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 19, 2005

I. Readings
Psalms 65, 91, 125
Lamentations 2:8-15
1 Corinthians 15:51-58
Matthew 12:1-14

II. Selections
Psalm 91:5-6
You will not fear the terror of the night,
or the arrow that flies by day,
or the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
or the destruction that wastes at noonday.

Lamentations 2:12
They cry to their mothers,
"Where is bread and wine?"
as they faint like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers' bosom.

1 Corinthians 15:57
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 12:14
But the Pharisees went out and conspired against [ Jesus], how to destroy him.

III. Meditation: Conspiring against the innocent
There are many who conspire for evil against the innocent and helpless, even as men conspired against you. The psalmist assures us that we shall not fear the terror of the night or the arrow that flies by day or pestilence or destruction; but there are those who do fear, and there are those who are stricken. These cry to their mothers and faint on the streets, and their lives are poured out on their mothers' bosom. In the face of all this, it is hard to thank you. Yet we do thank you, in the faith that through the Lord Jesus Christ you will give the ultimate victory to these innocent.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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