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 11, 2006

Readings
Psalms 7, 12, 36
Numbers 35:1-3, 9-15, 30-34
Romans 8:31-39
Matthew 23:13-26

Selections
Psalm 7:1-2
O LORD my God, in you I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me,
or like a lion they will tear me apart;
they will drag me away, with no one to rescue.

Numbers 35:34
You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I also dwell; for I the LORD dwell among the Israelites.

Romans 8:37
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Matthew 23:25
"...Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

Meditation: Greed and self-indulgence

Save us from our pursuers, deliver us;
lest like a lion they tear us apart
and drag us away, with no one to rescue.

We have defiled the earth on which we live,
the earth you gave us to protect,
the earth on which you also dwell.

Woe to us, hypocrites that we are-
proud to be pure on the outside,
inside full of greed and self-indulgence.

Greed and self-indulgence will consume us and your earth,
unless we find in you our refuge,
to conquer them through him who loved us.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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