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.

September 02, 2005

I. Readings
Psalm 25, 40, 84
1 Kings 11:26-43
James 4:13-5:6
Mark 15:22-32

II. Selections
Psalm 25:15
My eyes are ever towards the LORD,
for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

1 Kings 11:32
One tribe will remain [ Solomon's], for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

James 4:14
Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Mark 15:31
In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself.

III. Meditation: Pluck our feet out of the net
Solomon's prosperous kingdom suddenly shrank from twelve tribes to two. We do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is our life? We are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. The mockery of the chief priests and scribes was partly true: Jesus saved others, but not himself-but he did save others. Our eyes are ever toward you, for you will pluck our feet out of the net.

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