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 to Say About My Neighbors--Oct. 13, 2021

[From Oct. 18, 2017 archive]

 

There is a time to pray with the Spirit, 

and also a time to pray with the mind. 

 

Sometimes it is right to speak in secret, 

but secrets promote gossip and slander. 

 

You have told us, Jesus, that nothing is

covered up that will not be uncovered;

 

teach me, then, to say nothing about 

my neighbors in their absence that 

 I would not say in their presence.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 15; 147:1-11; 48; 4

Jer. 37:3-21

1 Cor. 14:13-25

Matt. 10:24-33

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 15:2-3

Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, 
          and speak the truth from their heart;

who do not slander with their tongue, 
          and do no evil to their friends, 
          nor take up a reproach against their neighbors…

 

Jer. 37:17

Then King Zedekiah sent for [Jeremiah], and received him.  The king questioned him secretly in his house, and said, “Is there any word from the LORD?”  Jeremiah said, "There is!"  Then he said, “You shall be handed over to the king of Babylon.”

 

1 Cor. 14:15

What should I do then?  I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also; I will sing praise with the spirit, but I will sing praise with the mind also. 

 

Matt. 10:26

“…So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.  …”  [Jesus, to his twelve disciples]


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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