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.

August 20, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 19, 81, 113
Judges 16:15-31
2 Corinthians 13:1-11
Mark 5:25-34

II. Selections
Psalm 81:13
O that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways.

Judges 16:30c
So those [ Samson] killed at his death were more than those he had killed during his life.

2 Corinthians 13:4a
For [ Christ] was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God.

Mark 5:30
Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?"

III. Meditation: Power in weakness

Your power-
sometimes known by its loss,
sometimes shown by weakness,
sometimes grown stronger in death.

Grant us power to listen to you
and to walk in your ways,
even if in weakness.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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