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 20, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 4, 15, 48
Job 42:1-17
Acts 16:16-24
John 12:20-26

II. Selections
Psalm 15:3
...who do not slander with their tongue,
and do no evil to their friends,
nor take up a reproach against their neighbors ...

Job 42:3b-c
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. [ Job to God]

Acts 16:17
While [ the slave girl who had a spirit of divination] followed Paul and us, she would cry out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation."

John 12:21-22
[ Some Greeks who went to worship at the festival] came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

III. Meditation: Who do not slander with their tongue

Though we assume he agreed with her words,
Paul was annoyed by the slave girl's prophecies.

Like the slave girl's, our tongues run out of control;
we use them to do evil, even against our friends.

And against you we complain over what we do not understand-
things too wonderful for us; thus we display our lack of knowledge.

Help us promulgate good words, such as the Greeks spoke to Philip,
and Philip repeated to Andrew, and the two passed on to Jesus.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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