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.

No Compassion for a Great City Thrown Down?--Nov. 11, 2015


Who may dwell with you, O God?
If Jesus had compassion for the hungry crowd,
shall we have no compassion for a great city thrown down?
Would it be wrong to grieve for the people slain,
even if it happened on a holy day?

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 15; 147:1-11; 48; 4
Neh. 7:73b-8:3, 5-18
Rev. 18:21-24
Matt. 15:29-39

Selected Verses
Ps. 15:1
O LORD, who may abide in your tent?
          Who may dwell on your holy hill?

Neh. 8:11
So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.” 

Rev. 18:21
Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,
     “With such violence Babylon the great city
          will be thrown down,
          and will be found no more …"

Matt. 15:32
Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” 

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