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 07, 2005

I. Readings
Psalms 51, 65, 142
2 Kings 23:36-24:17
1 Corinthians 12:12-26
Matthew 9:27-34

II. Selections
Ps. 142:3
When my spirit is faint,
you know my way.
In the path where I walk
they have hidden a trap for me.

2 Kings 24:13
He carried off all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house; he cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the LORD, which King Solomon of Israel had made, all this as the LORD had foretold.

1 Corinthians 12:22-23
On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect ...

Matthew 9:34
But the Pharisees said, "By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons."

III. Meditation: Traps
When my spirit is faint, you know my way, though I do not. You know how many are the traps hidden in the path where I walk-the trap of paying attention only to members of your body who seem important and strong; the trap of thinking that treasures make us secure; the trap of belittling your power to act. When my spirit is weak, save me from hidden traps.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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