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.

November 16, 2005

I. Readings
Psalms 65, 91, 125
Ezra 10:1-17
Revelation 21:9-21
Matthew 17:22-27

II. Selections
Psalms 125:1
Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved, but abides for ever.

Ezra 10:5
Then Ezra stood up and made the leading priests, the Levites, and all Israel swear that they would do as had been said. So they swore.

Revelation 21:15
The angel who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls.

Matthew 17:22-23
As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised." And they were greatly distressed.


III. Meditation: No rod of gold in our hands
Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides for ever. It does not follow that our trust leads us to religious insights that cannot be moved or that should abide for ever. Your angels may measure with a measuring rod of gold, but our hands hold no such instrument, nor are we certain we accurately have heard the voice of angels. The priest Ezra made his people swear to send away all foreign wives. Could it have been your will so cruelly to dissolve these marriages? Human hands killed Jesus, and the perpetrators believed they were on a righteous mission. Remind us that our theology is fallible-which is why our ultimate trust must be in you, not in our own ability to measure.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)