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 You Lay Your Hand upon Us--July 12, 2015


[From July 14, 2013 archive]
God, when you lay your hand upon us,
we are hemmed in, behind and before.

Love does that; it binds one soul to another;
even at the human to human level, it binds.

How much more hemmed in we
are when you are the Lover!

Jesus, you wanted to gather the
children of Jerusalem together

like a hen's brood under her wing,
but they refused to be hemmed in.

Lay your hand upon us that, hemmed in,
we may hear your word and grow in faith.

 

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 103; 150; 117; 139
1 Sam. 17:50-18:4
Rom. 10:4-17
Matt. 23:29-39

Selected Verses
Ps. 139:5
You hem me in, behind and before,
            and lay your hand upon me.

1 Sam. 18:1
When David had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

Rom. 10:17
So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.

Matt. 23:37
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!  How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!  …"  [Jesus]

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