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.

For Those Trapped in Warfare--May 24, 2022

[From May 3, 2016 archive]

 

Gracious God, righteous and merciful, 

you desire everyone to be saved 

and to come to knowledge of the truth. 

 

Hear our prayer for those who find themselves 

in the midst of killing and carnage and war; 

what chance have they to hear, let alone 

understand, the word of the kingdom? 

 

Grant that somehow peace may come to them; 

hasten the day when they may lie down 

where no one can make them afraid. 

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 98; 146; 66; 116

Lev. 26:1-20

1 Tim 2:1-6

Matt. 13:18-23

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 116:5 

 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; 
          our God is merciful. 

 

Lev. 26:6a 

And I will grant peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and no one shall make you afraid… 

 

1 Tim. 2:3 

This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 

 

Matt. 13:19 

“…When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path.”  [Jesus, to his disciples]


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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