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.

June 01, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 47, 68, 113
Zechariah 4:1-14
Ephesians 4:17-32
Matthew 9:1-8

II. Selections
Psalm 68:16
Why do you look with envy, O many-peaked mountain,
at the mount that God desired for his abode,
where the LORD will reside forever?

Zechariah 4:7
" ...What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain; and he shall bring out the top stone amid shouts of 'Grace, grace to it.'"

Ephesians 4:17
Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds.

Matthew 9:8
When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings.

III. Meditation: The futility of our minds
In the futility of our minds
we look with envy upon your authority
and the authority that you have given human beings.

We suppose that we possess great power,
but our mountain of power
shall become a plain before you.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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