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.

Our Forsaken Deliverer--July 30, 2014


[From Aug. 1, 2012 archive]

You deliver those who love you,
protect those who know your name.

For example, you raised up a left-handed
Benjaminite to deliver Israel from the Moabites.

From our limited perspective, there are exceptions.
Jesus knew your name, cried it out in a loud voice.

(As he told the apostles, it is not for us to know
what you have set by your own authority.)

And we confess it was through Jesus,
in our eyes forsaken on the cross,
that you delivered us.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 65; 147:1-11; 125; 91
Judg. 3:12-30
Acts 1:1-14
Matt. 27:45-54

Selected Verses

Ps. 91:14
Those who love me, I will deliver;
          I will protect those who know my name.

Judg. 3:15a
But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man.

Acts 1:7
[The risen Jesus] replied [to the apostles], "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.  …"

Matt. 27:46
And about three o'clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)