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.

Endurance for Peace--Nov. 2, 2020

 

Give strength to your people, O God.

We bow in silence before you. 

We pray for peace, and that we must do.

Surely the world needs peace.  

 

Jesus promised us peace, 

but when his day was at hand,

and he faced a baptism of suffering, 

how great was the stress upon him!

 

There was division on the earth then,

and we are sorely divided now.

Give us endurance to strive for peace,

as we hold fast to faith in Jesus.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 5; 145; 82; 29

Zeph. 1:7-13

Rev. 14:1-13

Luke 12:49-59

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 29:11

May the LORD give strength to his people!
          May the LORD bless his people with peace!

 

Zeph. 1:7a

Be silent before the Lord GOD!
     For the day of the LORD is at hand…

 

Rev. 14:12

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the faith of Jesus.

 

Luke 12:50-51

"…I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!  Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth?  No, I tell you, but rather division!  …"  [Jesus, to his disciples]

 

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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