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 07, 2005

I. Readings
Psalms 1, 3, 89:1-18
1 Kings 17:1-24
Philippians 2:1-11
Matthew 2:1-12

II. Selections
Ps. 3:2
...many are saying to me,
"There is no help for you in God."

1 Kings 17:8-9
Then the word of the LORD came to [ Elijah], saying, "Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you."

Phil. 2:1-2
If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Matt. 2:3
When King Herod heard [ the message of the wise men], he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him ...

III. Meditation: No help for us in you?
How often we accede to those who say that there is no help for us in you. How often like Herod we fear to hear what you have said. But when Elijah lacked food and drink, he found help from you through a very unlikely source-a widow who herself faced starvation. As we live together in you, encourage us in Christ and console us in love, that we may share in the Spirit; fill us with compassion and sympathy, that we may know the joy of having the same love, of being in full accord and of one mind. Then we will know that our help is in you.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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