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.

Unpredictable Responses to Good News--July 29, 2017

[From July 23, 2011 archive]

With great joy the church at Antioch received
their letter of exhortation from Jerusalem.
Sometimes good news is welcomed.

At other times good news is not at all appreciated.
Jesus made a triumphant return to his hometown
only to have the townsmen take offense at him.

And the man who honored King Saul's request
to kill him expected a reward from David;
but David had him executed on the spot.

O God, help us not to jump to conclusions--
the stone the builders rejected eventually
became the chief cornerstone.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 56; 149; 118; 111
2 Sam. 1:1-16
Acts 15:22-35
Mark 6:1-13

Selected Verses
Ps. 118:22
The stone that the builders rejected
          has become the chief cornerstone.

2 Sam. 1:14-15
David said to [the Amalekite], "Were you not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?"  Then David called one of the young men and said, "Come here and strike him down."  So he struck him down and he died.

Acts 15:30-31
So [Paul and his companions] were sent off and went down to Antioch.  When they gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter [from Jerusalem].  When its members read it, they rejoiced at the exhortation.

Mark 6:3
"…Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?"  And [the people of Jesus' home town] took offense at him.



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