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.

Enemies that Grieve You--Feb. 20, 2016


My times are in your hand, O God.
Deliver me from my enemies--
enemies that grieve you--
from my troubled spirit,
from my hardness of heart,
from boasting over the gifts
that I received from you.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 43; 149; 31; 143
Gen. 41:1-13
1 Cor. 4:1-17
Mark 2:23-3:6

Selected Verses
Ps. 31:15
My times are in your hand;
          deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors. 

Gen. 41:8a
In the morning [Pharaoh's] spirit was troubled; so he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men.

1 Cor. 4:7
For who sees anything different in you?  What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?

Mark 3:5a
[Jesus] looked around at [his critics] with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." 
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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