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 02, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 49, 96, 138
Jeremiah 31:27-34
Ephesians 5:1-32
Matthew 9:9-17

II. Selections
Psalm 138:3
On the day I called, you answered me,
you increased my strength of soul.

Jeremiah 31:27-34
And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the LORD.

Ephesians 5:8-9
For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord your are light-for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.

Matthew 9:12
But when [ Jesus] heard this, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick."

III. Meditation: Pluck and plant
We are sick
and in need of a physician.
Make us well.

We call to you;
answer us
and increase our strength of soul.

Watch over us
to pluck out what is bad
and to plant what is good.

Once we were darkness,
make us light in you-
all that is good and right and true.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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