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.

September 05, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 7, 12, 36
Job 12:1; 13:3-17, 21-27
Acts 12:1-17
John 8:33-47

II. Selections
Psalm 7:6
Rise up, O LORD, in your anger;
lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
awake, O my God; you have appointed a judgment.

Job 13:9
Will it be well with you when [ God] searches you out?
Or can you deceive him, as one person deceives another?

Acts 12:11
Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting."

John 8:43
" ...Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word. ... " [ Jesus]

III. Meditation: Awake, O my God

We are impatient-you are not doing our bidding,
not destroying our enemies. Are you asleep?

You sent an angel to rescue Peter-
then why not do something for us? ;

You are doing something,
just not what we want.

You are searching us out;
we cannot deceive you.

Why do we not understand what you say?
Because we do not want to accept your word.

Lord, have mercy;
Christ, have mercy!

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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