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.

When Darkness Covers the Land--July27, 2016


Rare the land--certainly not ours--
with eighty years' rest from warfare.
When darkness covers the whole land,
and we are sure you have forsaken us,
it is hard to wait for your promises,
but as the mountains surround
Jerusalem, so you surround
your people, O God.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 65; 147:1-11; 125; 91
Judg. 3:12-30
Acts 1:1-14
Matt. 27:45-54
           
Selected Verses
Ps. 125:2
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
          so the LORD surrounds his people,
          from this time on and forevermore. 

Judg. 3:30
So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel.  And the land had rest eighty years.

Acts 1:4a
While staying with [the apostles], [the risen Jesus] ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father.

Matt. 27:45-46
From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.  And about three o'clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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