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.

For Trees Burned Down--Sept. 12, 2020

 

Creator of this beautiful world,

 you have given us forests

watered abundantly.

 

Without knowledge,

and with unsettled minds,

we are destroying the planet.

 

As if we know nothing at all,

we change our climate

and forests burn.

Have mercy!

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 104; 149; 138; 98

Job 38:1-17

Acts 15:22-35

John 11:45-54

 

Selected Verses

Ps. 104:16

The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly,
          the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

 

Job 38:1-3

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?  Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me.  …”

 

Acts 15:24-25

Since we have heard that certain persons who have gone out from us, though with no instructions from us, have said things to disturb you and have unsettled your minds, we have decided unanimously to choose representatives and send them to you, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul…”

 

John 11:49-50

But one of [the council members], Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them,  “You know nothing at all!  You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.”


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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