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 18, 2005

I. Readings
Psalms 6, 20, 88
Nehemiah 9:26-38
Revelation 22:6-13
Matthew 18:10-20


II. Selections
Psalm 88:9b-c
Every day I call on you, O LORD;
I spread out my hands to you.

Nehemiah 9:28
But after they had rest, they again did evil before you, and you abandoned them to the hands of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them; yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, and many times you rescued them according to your mercies.

Revelation 22:10
And he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. ..."

Matthew 18:14
So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.

III. Meditation: The time is near.
We have received your words of prophecy, but then we seal them up. How many days have we called to you, spread out our hands before you, asking you to save us from the evil we have done? How many times have you heard our cries and rescued us according to your mercies? It is not your will that one little one should be lost, but give us a sense of urgency. The time is near

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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