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.

October 04, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 26, 116, 130
2 Kings 18:28-37
1 Corinthians 9:1-15
Matthew 7:22-29

II. Selections
Psalm 116:16
O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.
You have loosed my bonds.

2 Kings 18:32b
" ...Do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, The LORD will deliver us. ... " [ The Rabshakeh to Hezekiah's representatives]

1 Corinthians 9:1
Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?

Matthew 7:24
" ...Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. ... " [ Jesus, sitting on the mountainside]

III. Meditation: Free to be servants

Are we not free? You have loosed our bonds;
in spite of all skeptics, you have delivered us;
and we are free ...but free to be your servants.
In wisdom, may we build our house on rock.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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