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.

How We Treat Our Brothers and Sisters--Jan. 13, 2016


You heal the broken hearted, O God,
and bind up their wounds.
We all are your children, and Jesus
came to sanctify us all.
How it must grieve you when instead
of healing hearts, we break them;
instead of binding wounds, make them;
instead of leading to Christ, slay.
Their blood cries out from the ground.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 89:1-18; 147:1-11; 1; 33
Gen. 4:1-16
Heb. 2:11-18
John 1:29-42

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

Gen. 4:10
And the LORD said [to Cain], "What have you done?  Listen; your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground!  …"

Heb. 2:11
For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father.  For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters…

John 1:41-42a
[Andrew] first found his brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated Anointed).  He brought Simon to Jesus…
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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