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.

September 23, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 46, 67, 93
2 Kings 4:8-37
Acts 9:10-31
Luke 3:7-18

II. Selections
Psalm 93:4
More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters,
more majestic that the waves of the sea,
majestic on high is the LORD!

2 Kings 4:20-21
[ The servant] carried [ the child] and brought him to his mother; the child sat on her lap until noon, and he died. She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, closed the door on him, and left.

Acts 9:18-19a
And immediately something like scales fell from [ Saul's] eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

Luke 3:10
And the crowds asked [ John the Baptist], "What then shall we do?"

III. Meditation: When the scales fall from our eyes

We stand before your majesty,
and the scales fall from our eyes,
and we wonder what we should do.

The woman whose son died in her lap
did not waste time wondering; she laid
her son's body on the bed of the man of
God, then full-speed went to him for help.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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