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.

July 02, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 46, 67, 93
Numbers 21:4-9, 21-35
Acts 17:12-21, 23-24
Luke 13:10-17

II. Selections
Psalm 46:10
"Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations,
I am exalted in the earth."

Numbers 21:7
The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD to take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

Acts 17:19-20
So [ the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers] took [ Paul] and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means."

Luke 13:16
" ...And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?"


III. Meditation: Be still and know

The Jews did not like Jesus' teaching;
it broke the rules as they knew them.

The Greeks, too, argued against his teaching,
which sounded rather strange to them.

Greek and Jew sinned by speaking against you, O God,
and against your servants-and so have we.

If only we could quiet ourselves before you,
exalt your name, and know that you are God!

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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