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.

Where Are You God, in Our Distress?--June 17, 2014


Where are you, O God, in the day of our distress?
Moses was distressed--wanted you to put him to death.
The disciples were distressed at the thought of losing Jesus.

Answer us speedily when we call; remind us, in the gospel
we learn that your righteousness is revealed through
faith for faith--in his despair Moses learned
to trust in you; so did the disciples.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 42; 146; 102; 133
Numb. 11:1-23
Rom. 1:16-25
Matt. 17:22-27

Selected Verses
Ps. 102:2
Do not hide your face from me
          in the day of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;
          answer me speedily in the day when I call.

Numb. 11:15
"…If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once--if I have found favor in your sight--and do not let me see my misery."  [Moses to the LORD]

Rom. 1:17
For in [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, "The one who is righteous will live by faith."

Matt. 17:22-23
As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised." And they were greatly distressed.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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