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.

August 24, 2005

I. Readings
Psalms 65, 91, 125
1 Kings 3:1-15
Acts 27:9-26
Mark 14:1-11

II. Selections
Ps. 65:12-13
The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
the hills gird themselves with joy,
the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
the valleys deck themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy.

1 Kings 3:15a
Then Solomon awoke; it had been a dream.

Acts 27:11
But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said.

Mark 14:3
While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head.

III. Meditation: It had been a dream
The centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. Who should we listen to-dreamers or people in authority? Solomon had a marvelous vision. Then he awoke; it had been a dream. The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy. Is it only a dream? The woman in Bethany who came bearing a jar of nard to the house of Simon the leper must have had a dream. She knew what to do, and she did what she could, and it was beautiful; and what she did, we remember.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)