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.

April 28, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 49, 96, 138
Exodus 16:23-36
1 Peter 3:13-4:6
John 16:1-15

II. Selections
Psalm 49:16-17
Do not be afraid when some become rich,
when the wealth of their houses increases.
For when they die they will carry nothing away;
their wealth will not go down after them.

Exodus 16:23-36
Moses said, "This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Let an omer of [ the manna] be kept throughout your generations, in order that they may see the food with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.' "

1 Peter 4:1-2
Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same intention (for whoever has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin), so as to live for the rest of your earthly life no longer by human desires but by the will of God.

John 16:5
" ...But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' ..."

III. Meditation: Like the manna
The omer of manna was perishable,
except when you made it endure.
Our lives are like the manna.

When we die we will carry nothing away;
no matter how great our riches,
our wealth will not go down after us.

We do not know where we will go;
we only know you went there,
and we will be with you.

Teach us to live out our earthly life
no longer by human desires,
but according to your will.

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