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.

February 05, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 5, 29, 82
Isaiah 57:14-21
Galatians 6:11-18
Mark 9:30-41

II. Selections
Psalm 82:8
Rise up, O God, judge the earth;
for all the nations belong to you!

Isaiah 57:18
I have seen their ways, but I will heal them;
I will lead them and repay them with comfort,
creating for their mourners the fruit of the lips.

Galatians 6:15
For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything; but a new creation is everything!

Mark 9:35
[ Jesus] sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all."

III. Meditation: On being first

As a nation, as a people, we insist on being first;
but all the nations belong to you, O God.

Jesus made clear that in your kingdom
the first will be last-the servants first.

You have seen our ways;
heal us of our sickness.

Lead us into your new creation, where the only circumcision
that really matters is circumcision of our prideful hearts.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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