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.

The Humble You Adorn with Victory--Feb. 27, 2016


God of surprises, you take pleasure in your people,
but it is the humble whom you adorn with victory.
Everything is reversed--the youngest receives
the largest portions; the slave you make free;
the wholesome citizens want you to leave,
while the demoniac wants to be with you.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 43; 149; 31; 143
Gen. 43:16-34
1 Cor. 7:10-24
Mark 5:1-20

Selected Verses
Ps. 149:4
For the LORD takes pleasure in his people;
          he adorns the humble with victory. 

Gen. 43:33-34a
When they were seated before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth, the men looked at one another in amazement.  Portions were taken to them from Joseph's table, but Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs.

1 Cor. 7:22
For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freed person belonging to the Lord, just as whoever was free when called is a slave of Christ. 

Mark 5:17-18
Then [the people from the city] began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood.  As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him.

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