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 26, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 56, 111, 118
Job 3:1-26
Acts 9:10-19a
John 6:41-51

II. Selections
Psalm 118:22
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.

Job 3:1
After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

Acts 9:13
But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem ..."

John 6:42
[ The Jews] were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"

III. Meditation: The rejected stone

How prone we are to reject your good gifts-
our own lives,
anyone with a bad reputation,
and your best gift of all,
Jesus.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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