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.

Teach Us to Know the Times--March 24, 2022

[From March 3, 2016 archive]

 

Lord, teach us that if we are to bear 

the seed for sowing, we also need time 

to enjoy carrying home the sheaves; 

 

that, having planted a vineyard, 

it is acceptable to eat its fruit; 

 

that we benefit from being together 

with our sons and daughters 

and their sons and daughters. 

 

And teach us to recognize 

when we need to seek out

a deserted place to rest a while 

with you. 

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 27; 147:12-20; 126; 102 

Gen. 46:1-7, 28-34 

1 Cor. 9:1-15 

Mark 6:30-46 

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 126:6 

Those who go out weeping, 
          bearing the seed for sowing, 
shall come home with shouts of joy, 
          carrying their sheaves. 

 

Gen. 46:6-7 

They also took their livestock and the goods that they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and they came into Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him, his sons, and his sons' sons with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters; all his offspring he brought with him into Egypt. 

 

1 Cor. 9:7 

Who at any time pays the expenses for doing military service?  Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of its fruit?  Or who tends a flock and does not get any of its milk? 

 

Mark 6:31 

[Jesus] said to [the apostles], “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.


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