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.

How Your Body Was Prepared for Burial--July 17, 2014


Lord Jesus, we have a goodly heritage;
boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places.

While many were crossing over the Jordan
on dry ground, you held back the waters.

So do not allow us to think of ourselves
more highly than we ought to think.

Remind us rather how your body
was prepared for burial.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 97; 147:12-20; 16; 62
Josh. 3:14-4:7
Rom. 12:1-8
Matt. 26:1-16

Selected Verses
Ps. 16:6
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
          I have a goodly heritage.

Josh. 3:17
While all Israel were crossing over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, until the entire nation finished crossing over the Jordan.

Rom. 12:3
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Matt. 26:11-12
"…By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial.  Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her."  [Jesus to his disciples]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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