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.

Nowhere to Flee from Your Presence--Aug. 19, 2016


There is no possible place we could go
that your Spirit would not be, O God,
nowhere to flee from your presence--
and why would we want to find one?
Even when our sight of you fails us,
even when our suffering is great,
teach us not to be concerned
about the food that perishes,
but about the food you will give us,
the food that endures for eternal life.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 130; 148; 32; 139
Job 2:1-13
Acts 9:1-9
John 6:27-40
           
Selected Verses
Ps. 139:7
Where can I go from your spirit?
          Or where can I flee from your presence? 

Job 2:13
[His three friends] sat with [Job] on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

Acts 9:9
For three days [Saul] was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
John 6:27a
Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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