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.

October 01, 2005

I. Readings
Psalms 63, 90, 125, 149
2 Kings 19:21-36
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Matthew 8:18-27

II. Selections
Ps. 149:4
For the LORD takes pleasure in his people,
he adorns the humble with victory.

2 Kings 19:30-31
The surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward; for from Jerusalem a remnant shall go out, and from Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

1 Cor. 10:12
So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.

Matthew 8:20
And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

III. Meditation: Though foxes have holes
You took pleasure in your people, you adorned the humble with victory. In your zeal the surviving remnant of the house of Judah again took root downward, and bore fruit upward; for from Jerusalem a remnant went out, and from Mount Zion a band of survivors. But if we think we are standing, we must watch out that we do not fall. After all, foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man had nowhere to lay his head.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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