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 05, 2005

I. Readings
Psalms 5, 29, 82
1 Kings 13:1-10
Philippians 1:1-11
Mark 15:40-47

II. Selections
Ps. 82:1-2
God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
"How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked?

1 Kings 13:10
So [ the man of God] went another way, and did not return by the way that he had come to Bethel.

Phil. 1:6
I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.

Mark 15:40-41
There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. These used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.

III. Meditation: Sometimes a different way
You have made plain your place in the order of things, and you have made clear your demand for justice. The good work that you begin, you in your own good time will bring to completion. You call us to follow you, but not always in the same way as before. Sometimes, like the women, we observe from a distance; sometimes, like the prophet, we must return by a different road than the road we have come.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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