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 13, 2005

I. Readings
Psalms 27, 36, 80
Jeremiah 38:1-13
1 Corinthians 14:26-40
Matthew 10:34-42

II. Selections
Psalm 27:8-9a
"Come," my heart says, "seek his face!"
Your face, LORD, do I seek.
Do not hide your face from me.

Jeremiah 38:5-6
King Zedekiah said, "Here he is; he is in your hands; for the king is powerless against you." So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king's son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. Now there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.

1 Corinthians 14:32-33
And the spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets, for God is a God not of disorder but of peace.

Matthew 10:41
" ...Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous ..."

III. Meditation: The reward of a prophet
You are a God not of disorder but of peace, and Paul says the spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets. Maybe they are, but I am not at peace. I am full of disorder. "Come," my heart says, "seek his face!" Your face, LORD, do I seek. Do not hide your face from me. Jesus promised that whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous. Still, even the king may be powerless to protect a prophet; what reward does the prophet expect as he sinks into mud at the bottom of a well? Peace? If it is your peace, perhaps that is reward enough.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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