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.

Mutual Encouragement in Each Other's Faith--June 18, 2018



We do not keep your charge, O God.
Ours is a faithless, perverse generation,
unwilling to rescue the weak and the needy.
Yet we must not be discouraged.  Teach us to
find mutual encouragement in each other's faith,
to recognize our debt both to Greeks and barbarians,
to the wise, and even to the foolish.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 5; 145; 82; 29
Numb. 9:15-23, 10:29-36
Romans 1:1-15
Matt. 17:14-21

Selected Verses
Ps. 82:4
Rescue the weak and the needy;
          deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” 
[God, to the divine council]

Numb. 9:23
At the command of the LORD [the Israelites] would camp, and at the command of the LORD they would set out.  They kept the charge of the LORD, at the command of the LORD by Moses.

Romans 1:12, 14
…or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.  … I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish…

Matt. 17:17
Jesus answered [the father, but speaking of his disciples], "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you?  How much longer must I put up with you?  Bring [the epileptic boy] here to me."

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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