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.

What You Ask Is Too Hard--April 30, 2019


Lord Jesus Christ,
as you were sent into the world,
so you send us into the world,
but is not what you ask of us
too difficult?  You ask us
always to love, not hate.

In trying to do your will
we encounter so much evil--
it seems impossible not to hate
those who oppress the poor,
who target the foreigner.

Alone, we walk in darkness;
only in your light can hate
turn to love for the sinner
even as we hate the sin.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 98; 146; 66; 116
Dan. 2:1-16
1 John 2:1-11
John 17:12-19

Selected Verses
Ps. 146:9
The LORD watches over the strangers;
          he upholds the orphan and the widow,
          but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

Dan. 2:11
"…The thing that the king is asking is too difficult, and no one can reveal it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals."  [The Chaldean magicians, to their king]

1 John 2:9
Whoever says, "I am in the light," while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. 

John 17:18
"…As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.  …"  [Jesus, praying for his disciples]

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