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.

Unbounded Love, Undeserved Suffering--Sept. 14, 2018



O God, you have set boundaries on the highest heavens,
limitations on all the things you have created,
but there seem to be no limits on the signs and wonders
that demonstrate your love for us.  Jesus wept
over his love for Lazarus, and freed him from his bonds.
The tale of Job reminds us that there is another
side to the story; the world is full of suffering--much we
bring upon ourselves, but the innocent suffer, too.
I believe that as Jesus wept for Lazarus and
for those who grieved over him, so you weep for
the suffering in our world.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 51; 148; 142; 65
Job 29:1, 31:24-40
Acts 15:12-21
John 11:30-44

Selected Verses
Ps. 148:4, 6
Praise [the LORD], you highest heavens,
          and you waters above the heavens!
He established them forever and ever;
          he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.

Job 31:29-30
"If I have rejoiced at the ruin of those who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook them--I have not let my mouth sin by asking for their lives with a curse…" [Job, defending himself against his "comforters"]

Acts 15:12
The whole assembly kept silence, and listened to Barnabas and Paul as they told of all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles. 

John 11:35-36
Jesus began to weep.  So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"

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