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 25, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 19, 81, 113
Numbers 14:26-45
Acts 15:1-12
Luke 12:49-56

II. Selections
Psalm 81:10
I am the LORD your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

Numbers 14:26
And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying: How long shall this wicked congregation complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites, which they complain against me.

Acts 15:12
The whole assembly kept silence, and listened to Barnabas and Paul as they told of all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles.

Luke 12:50
I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!

III. Meditation: Complaints

O God, we complain
because our lives are full of stress.
What do we know of stress,
compared to what faced Jesus?

Instead of opening our mouths to complain,
teach us to open them wide in supplication,
and you will fill our mouths-for you are the One
who brought us up out of Egypt.

Rather than wearying you with our complaints,
make us keep silence before you,
listening to stories of the signs and wonders
you have performed through others.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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