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 18, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 31, 43, 143
Genesis 43:16-34
1 Corinthians 7:10-24
Mark 5:1-20

II. Selections
Psalm 143:6
I stretch out my hands to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah

Genesis 43:34
Portions were taken to them from Joseph's table, but Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs. So they drank and were merry with him.

1 Corinthians 7:23
You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of human masters.

Mark 5:3-4
[ A man with an unclean spirit] lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him.

III. Meditation: A price for the triumph
The man from the tombs was a slave
whom no human could shackle or chain.
Only you can triumph over evil,
and you paid a price for the victory.

We stretch out our hands to you;
Our soul thirsts for you like a parched land.
Give us an ample portion, that we many drink
and be merry with you in your triumph.

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