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.

October 30, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 9, 62, 73
Jonah 1:17-2:10
Revelation 11:1-14
Luke 11:14-26

II. Selections
Psalm 62:4
Their only plan is to bring down a person of prominence.
They take pleasure in falsehood;
they bless with their mouths,
but inwardly they curse. Selah

Jonah 2:6b-e
" ...I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the Pit,
O LORD my God. ... " [ Jonah, praying from the belly of the fish]

Revelation 11:10
...and the inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and celebrate and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to the inhabitants of the earth.

Luke 11:15-16
But some of [ the crowd] said, "He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons." Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven.

III. Meditation: Bringing up and putting down

We have been down to the land
whose bars closed upon us,
and it seemed we would be there forever,
but you brought us up from the Pit.

Why, then, is it tempting
to bring down persons of prominence,
whom inwardly we curse,
while blessing with our mouths?

We demand a sign from heaven,
gloat and celebrate their falling,
especially if the fallen ones
have pointed out our failings.

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