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 27, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 65, 91, 125
Esther 6:1-14
Acts 19:1-10
Luke 4:1-13

II. Selections
Psalm 125:3
For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
on the land allotted to the righteous,
so that the righteous might not stretch out
their hands to do wrong.

Esther 6:11
So Haman took the robes and the horse and robed Mordecai and led him riding through the open square of the city, proclaiming, "Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor."

Acts 19:8
[ Paul] entered the synagogue and for three months spoke out boldly, and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God.

Luke 4:5-7
Then the devil led [ Jesus] up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours."

III. Meditation: Responding to authority

Surely our lives are affected by the governing authority,
authority with power to honor, control, or punish-
even the power to force our participation in evil.

Your kingdom is more powerful
than any government in the world,
including the power to redeem us.

Teach us how to respond to our rulers:
to support them when they lead rightly,
but to resist the scepter of wickedness.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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