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.

Awake or Asleep, with Christ--May 17, 2022

[From May 12, 2020 archive]

 

Forgive, dear Jesus, but I am not sure,

exactly how to make amends to you.

 

Every day I fall so far short

of loving the way you love.

 

How do I lift up the cup of salvation

and call upon your name?

 

I wish I could put my failures 

on the head of a goat—

have it carry them away

to the wilderness. 

 

As a symbolic act, 

that would be powerful. 

 

But you made it clear

that forgiving other people

is key to receiving forgiveness;

I ask your grace to help me do that.

 

Then Lord, awake or asleep, 

let me live with you.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 98; 146; 66; 116

Lev. 16:20-34

Thess. 5:1-11

Matt. 6:7-15

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 116:13

I will lift up the cup of salvation
          and call on the name of the LORD…

 

Lev. 16:22

The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a barren region; and the goat shall be set free in the wilderness.  [The LORD, to Moses]

 

1 Thess. 5:9-10

For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. 

 

Matt. 6:14-15

“…For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.  …”  [Jesus, to the crowds on the mountain]


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