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.

Trust Without Limits--April 26, 2021

 

God, I cannot grasp the meaning of “everlasting.”

The only existence I know is one with limits,

beginnings and endings in time and space.

 

Jeremiah looked far into the future, 

and Jesus looked back a thousand years;

long views such as these I can comprehend.  

 

As mortals, we have to be content with that,

and with hope laid up for us in heaven.

Yet I trust in your steadfast love. 

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 97; 145; 124; 115

Jer. 30:1-9

Col. 1:1-14

Luke 6:1-11

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 145:13a

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
          and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

 

Jer. 30:3

For the days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the LORD, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors and they shall take possession of it.

 

Col. 1:5

…because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.  You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel…

 

Luke 6:3

Jesus answered [his critics], “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?  …”


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