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.

July 19, 2005

I. Readings
Psalms 30, 86, 123
1 Samuel 25:1-22
Acts 14:1-18
Mark 4:21-34

II. Selections
Ps. 86:7
In the day of my trouble I call on you,
for you will answer me.

1 Samuel 25:11
" ...Shall I take my bread and my water and the meat that I have butchered for my shearers, and give it to men who come from I do not know where?" [ Nabal in reply to David's servants]

Acts 14:11
When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!"

Mark 4:29
But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest is come.

III. Meditation: Quick decisions
Lord, you make decisions quickly, and they are good; but when we decide too quickly, we call men gods, we speak brashly like fools, and we yield to our selfish instincts. Teach us to seek your will before we decide, not just in the day of trouble that comes after we have decided wrongly.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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