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.

Grace to All, Without Distinction--June 20, 2022

[From June 22, 2020 archive]

 

You are good to all, O God. 

For you, there is no distinction

as to whom you show your compassion.

 

All have sinned and fallen short of your glory,

and all receive the gift of your grace, 

made known to us in Christ. 

 

Jesus welcomed all little children, 

saying the kingdom of heaven

belongs to such as them.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 135; 145; 97; 112

Numb. 16:1-19

Rom. 3:21-31

Matt. 19:13-22

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 145:9

The LORD is good to all,
          and his compassion is over all that he has made.

 

Num. 16:5

Then [Moses] said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the LORD will make known who is his, and who is holy, and who will be allowed to approach him; the one whom he will choose he will allow to approach him.  …”

 

Rom. 3:22b-24

For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus…

 

Matt. 19:14

…but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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