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 23, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 27, 102, 126, 147:12-20
Genesis 46:1-7, 28-34
1 Corinthians 9:1-15
Mark 6:30-46

II. Selections
Psalm 126:5
May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.

Genesis 46:4
" ...I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again; and Joseph's own hand shall close your eyes." [ God to Jacob]

1 Corinthians 9:12c
...but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.

Mark 6:38a
And [ Jesus] said to [ the apostles], "How many loaves have you? Go and see."

III. Meditation: How much must we endure?
How much are we to endure
rather than put an obstacle
in the way of the Gospel of Christ?

You do not tell us.
You only ask us to take stock
of what you have provided.

And you promise to be with us
as we go down to Egypt,
and to bring us back up again.

Those who sow in tears, you say,
will reap with shouts of joy.
The rest is a matter of faith.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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