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.

June 05, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 28, 54, 99
Deuteronomy 12:1-12
2 Corinthians 6:3-7:1
Luke 17:11-19

II. Selections
Psalm 28:1
To you, O LORD, I call;
my rock, do not refuse to hear me,
for if you are silent to me,
I shall be like those who go down to the Pit.

Deuteronomy 12:12a-b
And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you together with your sons and your daughters ...

2 Corinthians 6:10
...as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

Luke 17:17
Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? ..."

III. Meditation: Silent or rejoicing

If you are silent to us, we are in deepest despair;
yet often we, like the nine lepers, are silent to you.
We have every reason always to rejoice before you,
even when we are sorrowful and poor and have nothing.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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