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.

God of All Consolation--April 6, 2020


God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Father of mercies and God of all consolation,
we bless your name.

You console us in our affliction;
console the lonely, we pray you,
the ones who have lost everything,
they who weep bitterly in the night.

We ask also the consolation
that comes with forgiveness;
forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive others.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 119:73-80; 145; 121; 6
Lam. 1:1-2, 6-12
2 Cor. 1:1-7
Mark 11:12-25

Selected Verses
Ps. 6:2
Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing;
          O LORD, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror.

Lam. 1:1-2a
How lonely sits the city that once was full of people!  How like a widow she has become, she that was great among the nations!  She that was a princess among the provinces has become a vassal.  She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks…

2 Cor. 1:3-4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God.

Mark 11:12-25
“Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”  [Jesus, to his disciples]

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