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.

August 05, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 23, 66,108
2 Samuel 6:12-23
Romans 14:7-12
John 1:43-51

II. Selections
Psalm 108:12
O grant us help against the foe,
for human help is worthless.

2 Samuel 6:22
" ...I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in my own eyes; but by the maids of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor." [ David to Michal]

Romans 14:8
If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.

John 1:43b
[ Jesus] found Philip and said to him, "Follow me."

III. Meditation: What really matters

Whether we are abased and contemptible
in the eyes of others is not what matters,
nor is it important how we view ourselves.

What really matters is whether we follow you;
for whether we live or die, we belong to you.
O grant us help from foes without and foes within.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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