I am an emeritus professor from Cornell University and was a Commissioned Lay Preacher in the Presbyterian Church (USA). For many years I have followed the Daily Lectionary as printed in the Mission Yearbook of my church. For each day of a two-year cycle, the lectionary lists four psalms and three other scriptural passages--usually one from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament. My practice is to copy down a verse or two from one of the psalms and from each of the other three passages. After I have written out all four selections, I reflect upon them, rearrange their order, and incorporate them into a meditation. Sometimes I retain much of the original wording; sometimes all that remains of a selection is an idea that was stimulated when I read the original words. All selections are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. For the Daily Lectionary, see the link below.

When I Am Angry--Nov. 16, 2013


 O God, when I am angry I need no two-edged
sword in my hands to execute vengeance--
to my shame, my words are weapon enough.

Jesus was angry with Peter for being to him
a stumbling block; the angel was angry
with the dragon, who represented the Devil;

Nehemiah was angry with Tobiah and Eliashib
for desecrating the chambers of your house;
but there is seldom justification for my anger.

Forgive all my unwarranted anger, O God--
the many times when I have set my mind
not on divine things, but on human things.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 56; 149; 118; 111
Neh. 13:4-22
Rev. 20:1-6
Matt. 16:21-28

Selected Verses

Ps. 49:6-7
Let the high praises of God be in their throats
          and two-edged swords in their hands,
to execute vengeance on the nations
          and punishment on the peoples…

Neh. 13:7b-8
I then discovered the wrong that Eliashib had done on behalf of Tobiah, preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God.  And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the room.

Rev. 20:2-3a
[The angel] seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit…

Matt. 16:23
But [Jesus] turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan!  You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."

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