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 03, 2005

I. Readings
Psalms 5, 29, 82
2 Kings 21:1-18
1 Corinthians 10:14-11:1
Matthew 8:28-34

II. Selections
Ps. 5:6
You destroy those who speak lies;
the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful.

2 Kings 21:16
Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he caused Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.

1 Corinthians 10:32-11:1
Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, so that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Matthew 8:33-34
The swineherds ran off, and on going into the town, they told the whole story about what had happened to the demoniacs. Then the whole town came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their neighborhood.

III. Meditation: With you in the neighborhood
It is hard, having you in the neighborhood. I know that lying leads to destruction and that you abhor bloodthirstiness and deceit, and I have been involved in lies. I don't think of myself as bloodthirsty, but more than once I have acquiesced in the shedding of very much innocent blood by our nation. It is easy to run away from a difficult situation and then babble about it. How often this results in asking you to just go away! As I try to give no offense, as I try to please everyone, grant that I seek not my own advantage, but that of others. I am not Paul; I dare not ask that others imitate me, but by your grace make me a better imitator of Christ. And don't leave!

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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