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.

October 08, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 1, 33, 89:1-18
Hosea 8:1-14
Acts 23:23-35
Luke 7:18-35

II. Selections
Psalm 89:15
Happy are the people who know the festal shout,
who walk, O LORD, in the light of your countenance ...

Hosea 8:12
Though I write for [ Israel] the multitude of my instructions,
they are regarded as a strange thing.

Acts 23:35
...[ Felix the governor] said, "I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive." Then he ordered that [ Paul] be kept under guard in Herod's headquarters.

Luke 7:34
" ...the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' ... " [ Jesus to the crowds]

III. Meditation: Protection from our accuser

Happy are the people who know how to sing your praises, O God; who walk in the light of your countenance. But alas for us, who ignore as strange the multitude of instructions you have given us. If called to stand before our accuser, who will protect us? Who else but the one who himself was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners? In gratitude may we walk with him in your light.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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