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 30, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 46, 67, 93
Joshua 24:1-15
Acts 28:23-31
Mark 2:23-28

II. Selections
Psalm 46:4
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.

Joshua 24:13
" ...I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and towns that you had not built, and you live in them; you eat the fruit of vineyards and oliveyards that you did not plant. ..." [ Joshua to the people, gathered at Shechem]

Acts 28:24
Some were convinced by what [ Paul] had said, while others refused to believe.

Mark 2:28
" ...so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath."

III. Meditation: Hard to convince

Jerusalem was the holy city,
and the sabbath was the holy day,
but Jesus was lord over both.

You give us land for which we did not labor,
towns we did not build,
and food from crops we did not cultivate.

Yet some of us
are convinced by your Word,
and some are not.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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