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.

Upon Seeing a Homeless Man--Feb. 4, 2015


We see before us a man despised and rejected,
a man of suffering, acquainted with pain,
from whom people hide their faces--
obviously a man of no account.

Jesus, lay your hands on us again,
restore our sight, that we may see clearly.
You who were persecuted, held to be worthless--
don't you call us to heal the brokenhearted
and bind up their wounds?

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 96; 147:1-11; 132; 134
Isa. 52:13-53:12
Gal. 4:21-31
Mark 8:11-26

Selected Verses
Ps. 147:3
[The LORD] heals the brokenhearted,
          and binds up their wounds.

Isa. 53:3
He was despised and rejected by others;
          a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces
          he was despised, and we held him of no account.

Gal. 4:29
But just as at that time the child who was born according to the flesh persecuted the child who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. 

Mark 8:25
Then Jesus laid his hands on [the blind man's] eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

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