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 21, 2005

I. Readings
Psalms 6, 20, 88
Ezra 3:1-13
1 Corinthians 16:10-24
Matthew 12:22-32

II. Selections
Psalm 6:1
O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger,
or discipline me in your wrath.

Ezra 3:12-13
But many of the priests and Levites and heads of families, old people who had seen the first house on its foundations, wept with a loud voice when they saw this house, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping, for the people shouted so loudly that the sound was heard far away.

1 Corinthians 16:13-14
Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

Matthew 12:29
Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his property, without first tying up the strong man? Then indeed the house can be plundered.

III. Meditation: Sounds of weeping mixed with joyful shouts
O God, do not rebuke us in your anger, or discipline us in your wrath. We weep with a loud voice when we consider the past. Confronted with the power of evil, we have been weak. You call us to be strong and alert. Remind us that you have entered the strong man's house and tied up the source of evil, so that we can have the courage to stand firm in our faith and live in love. Cover the sound of our weeping with joyful shouts of praise.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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