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.

May 06, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 23, 92, 114, 149
Exodus 25:1-22
Colossians 3:1-17
Matthew 4:18-25

II. Selections
Psalm 23:5
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

Exodus 25:22
There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the covenant, I will deliver to you all my commands for the Israelites. [ God to Moses]

Colossians 3:2-3
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Matthew 4:23
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

III. Meditation: Above or below
You spoke to Moses from above-
above the mercy seat between two cherubim,
there on the ark of the covenant-
and delivered your commands.

Because we have died
and our life is hidden with Christ in you,
we are told to set our minds
on things above, not things on earth.

I can see validity in that advice;
yet Jesus walked throughout the land
to proclaim and teach and heal;
it seems he cared about the people here below.

If indeed we are with Christ in you,
should not we, whose cups overflow,
set with you a table for the hungry
and with you their heads anoint?

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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