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 03, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 23, 92, 114
Ezekiel 36:22-27
Ephesians 6:1-24
Matthew 9:18-26

II. Selections
Psalm 114:5-6
Why is it, O sea, that you flee?
O Jordan, that you turn back?
O mountains, that you skip like rams?
O hills, like lambs?

Ezekiel 36:23b
...and the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the LORD GOD, when through you I display my holiness before their eyes.

Ephesians 6:4
And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Matthew 9:25
But when the crowd had been put outside, [ Jesus] went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up.

III. Meditation: What others do or do not see
Sometimes away from the crowd
you work your miracles,
and mountains shake
and streams run backward
with no one to see.

At such times it may be through us
that you display your holiness
before the eyes of others.
How sad if we then provoke to anger
the ones under our care and influence.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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