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.

Awake or Asleep, with Christ--May 12, 2020


Forgive, dear Jesus, but I am not sure,
exactly how to make amends to you.

Every day I fall so far short
of loving the way you love.

How do I lift up the cup of salvation
and call upon your name?

I wish I could put my failures
on the head of a goat—
have it carry them away
to the wilderness.

As a symbolic act,
that would be powerful.

But you made it clear
that forgiving other people
is key to receiving forgiveness;
I ask your grace to help me do that.

Then Lord, awake or asleep, 
let me live with you.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 98; 146; 66; 116
Lev. 16:20-34
1 Thess. 5:1-11
Matt. 6:7-15

Selected Verses
Ps. 116:13
I will lift up the cup of salvation
          and call on the name of the LORD…

Lev. 16:22
The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a barren region; and the goat shall be set free in the wilderness.  [The LORD, to Moses]

1 Thess. 5:9-10
For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. 

Matt. 6:14-15
“…For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.  …”  [Jesus, to the crowds on the mountain]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

5 comments:

  1. Mea SententiaMay 12, 2020 at 7:52 PM

    “Behold the Goat of God, who taketh away the sin of the world.”
    Forgive me... 🙄

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  2. Elmer E. EwingMay 13, 2020 at 12:23 AM

    Actually I would like to know more about the Azazel Goat--an intriguing concept.

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  3. Mea SententiaMay 13, 2020 at 6:30 PM

    What have you found? From my cursory look, it seems no one knows what it means.

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  4. Elmer E. EwingMay 14, 2020 at 2:07 AM

    Oh, I haven't found much beyond what is in the text--the priest symbolically places the sins of the people on the head of a goat, and then drives it out into the wilderness. The name is of a demon there, associated with similar rituals of the Near East, but apparently that was not emphasized in Judaism. What intrigued me was the image--our sins are gone, God has freed us of them. I am reminded of writing sins down on paper, praying for forgiveness, and then burning the papers. (I even think of demons being transferred from a "madman" into a herd of swine, who then drown themselves, but of course that incident was significantly different.)

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  5. Mea SententiaMay 14, 2020 at 7:23 PM

    The other explanations of the meaning of Azazel seem plausible to me too. I agree the symbolism is striking, the dual action of sacrifice and sending away. It’s like a visual parable. When I led confirmation class, we burned slips of paper with sins written on them during the Ash Wednesday service.

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