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.

July 09, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 9, 62, 73
1 Samuel 15:1-3, 7-23
Acts 9:19b-31
Luke 23:44-56a

II. Selections
Psalm 62:9
Those of low estate are but a breath,
those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
they are together lighter than a breath.

1 Samuel 15:22b
" ...Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed than the fat of rams. ... " [ Samuel to King Saul]

Acts 9:27
But Barnabas took [ Saul], brought him to the apostles, and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.

Luke 23:46
Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." Having said this, he breathed his last.

III. Meditation: What matters

Of low estate or high does not matter to you.
Obedience matters-paying heed to what you say.

Our life before we came to know Christ counts nothing
compared to how we have been changed by knowing him.

What matters most is commending our spirit into your hands.
Help us do this every day, living as if each breath will be our last.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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