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 27, 2005

I. Readings
Psalms 26, 116, 130
Lamentations 2:16-22
Revelation 5:11-6:11
Matthew 13:18-23

II. Selections
Psalm 116:3
The snares of death encompassed me;
the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish.

Lamentations 2:19
Arise, cry out in the night,
at the beginning of the watches!
Pour out your heart like water
before the presence of the Lord!
Lift your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
who faint for hunger
at the head of every street.

Revelation 6:5b-6
[ The black horse's] rider held a pair of scales in his hand, and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's pay, and three quarts of barley for a day's pay, but do not damage the olive oil and the wine!"

Matthew 13:22
As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.

III. Meditation: Choked out, yielding nothing
We have heard you tell us to feed the hungry, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. The hungry work all day for starvation wages; the snares of death encompass them; the pangs of Sheol lay hold on them; they suffer distress and anguish; we do nothing. Mothers cry out in the night and pour out their heart like water before your presence, lifting their hands for the lives of their children-children who faint for hunger at the head of every street. Nothing at all.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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