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.

March 13, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 6, 119:73-80, 121
Genesis 41:46-57
1 Corinthians 4:8-21
Mark 3:7-19a

II. Selections
Psalm 119:76
Let your steadfast love become my comfort
according to your promise to your servant.

Genesis 41:52
The second [ son] [ Joseph] named Ephraim, "For God has made me fruitful in the land of my misfortunes."

1 Corinthians 4:11-12a
To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless, and we grow weary from the work of our own hands.

Mark 3:13
[ Jesus] went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him.

III. Meditation: Fruitful in the land of their misfortunes
Jesus, you went up the mountain
and called to you
those whom you wanted,
and they came to you.

Because they followed you,
they were hungry and thirsty,
poorly clothed and beaten and homeless,
weary from the work of their own hands.

But you have promised your steadfast love
for the comfort of your servants even in hard times.
You make them fruitful
in the land of their misfortunes.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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