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 29, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 32, 130, 139
1 Samuel 9:1-14
Acts 7:17-29
Luke 22:31-38

II. Selections
Psalm 139:12
...even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

1 Samuel 9:5
When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to the boy who was with him, "Let us turn back, or my father will stop worrying about the donkeys and worry about us."

Acts 7:25
" ...[ Moses] supposed that his kinsfolk would understand that God through him was rescuing them, but they did not understand. ... " [ Stephen before the Council]

Luke 22:33
And [ Peter] said to [ Jesus], "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!"

III. Meditation: Darkness is as light to you

Like Peter before his denial, we are ignorant about what is ahead.
Like the kinsfolk of Moses, we misinterpret how you care for us.
And so we worry, about our possessions or about our children.
But we are in your hands, and even darkness is not dark to you.
We have no need to worry, for you know the way we must go.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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