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 31, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 9, 99, 118
Isaiah 4:2-6
Ephesians 4:1-16
Matthew 8:28-34

II. Selections
Psalm 9:2
I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

Isaiah 4:5
Then the LORD will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over its places of assembly a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night. Indeed over all the glory there will be a canopy.

Ephesians 4:1-2
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love ...

Matthew 8:34
Then the whole town came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their neighborhood.

III. Meditation: Not a canopy, a call
Sometimes we are glad and exult in you,
and sing praise to your name;
then again we beg you to leave our neighborhood.

Will you not protect us from our unrighteousness?
Could you not cover us with a canopy,
a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night?

No canopy, only a call to lead a life worthy of our calling:
humility, gentleness, patience,
bearing with one another in love.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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