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.

April 09, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 97, 115, 124
Jonah 2:1-10
Acts 2:14, 22-32
John 14:1-14

II. Selections
Psalm 115:2
Why should the nations say,
"Where is their God?"

Jonah 2:6b-c
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.

Acts 2:32
This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.

John 14:3
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.

III. Meditation: Where you are

There are many who scoff
and ask where you are, Jesus.
When the bars closed upon you,
God brought up your life
from the Pit-raised you up;
of that, many are witnesses.

We cannot point where you are;
but we know you are close by,
and will prepare a place for us,
and will come again to take us
to yourself; so where you are,
there we may be with you.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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