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 05, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 65, 91, 125
Numbers 22:41-23:12
Romans 7:13-25
Matthew 21:33-46

II. Selections
Psalm 65:11
You crown the year with your bounty;
your wagon tracks overflow with richness.

Numbers 23:11
Then Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but now you have done nothing but bless them."

Romans 7:21
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.

Matthew 21:42
Jesus said to [ the chief priests and the elders of the people], "Have you never read in the scriptures:
'The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord's doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes'? ... "

III. Meditation: Paradoxically

You confront us with paradox:

We want to curse our enemies;
you want us to bless them.

When we want to do good,
evil lies close at hand.

The very building block we reject as useless
you select for the cornerstone.

The riches of your bounty overflow,
while one person in six lives in hunger-wracked poverty.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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