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 Cried to God for Help--Dec. 11, 2014


Mind shaken, alarmed,
my heart shook as trees of
the forest shake before the wind.

In distress I called upon you,
O God; to you I cried for help.

Then I went and found everything
had been made ready for me.
Why the fear and shaking?

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 18:1-20; 147:12-20; 126; 62
Isa. 7:1-9
2 Thess. 2:1-12
Luke 22:1-13

Selected Verses
Ps. 18:6
In my distress I called upon the LORD;
   to my God I cried for help.

Isa. 7:2
When the house of David heard that Aram had allied itself with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

2 Thess. 2:2
…not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here.

Luke 22:13
So [Peter and John] went and found everything as [Jesus] had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal.

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