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 Is the Good of That?"--Nov. 16, 2020


 O God my Lord, turn my heart to you,

that I may hear what you will speak.

I will stand and watch and listen.

 

(Words of Moses and the prophets 

were clear, not to mention Jesus, 

but I do not want to hear them.)

 

Around the world your children  

die for want of food and warmth.

Shall I bless them, “Go in peace;

keep warm and eat your fill?”

 

 “What is the good of that?”

asks the Letter of

 James.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 57; 145; 85; 47

Hab. 2:1-4, 9-20

James 2:14-26

Luke 16:19-31

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 85:8

Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,
          for he will speak peace to his people,
          to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.

 

Hab. 2:1

I will stand at my watchpost,
     and station myself on the rampart;
I will keep watch to see what [God] will say to me,
     and what he will answer concerning my complaint.

 

James 2:15-16

If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?

 

Luke 16:31

“…[Father Abraham] said to [the rich man in Hades], ‘If [your brothers] do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”  [Jesus, in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man]


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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