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 12, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 51, 65, 142
2 Kings 23:36-24:17
1 Corinthians 12:12-26
Matthew 9:27-34

II. Selections
Psalm 51:6
You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

2 Kings 24:7
The king of Egypt did not come again out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken over all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the Wadi of Egypt to the River Euphrates.

1 Corinthians 12:21
The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."

Matthew 9:34
But the Pharisees said, "By the ruler of the demons he [ Jesus] casts out demons."

III. Meditation: Invasions and evasions

As one aggressive ruler takes over the land of another,
so cynicism supplants the truth in our inward being,
and we fail to follow the wisdom in our secret heart.
We find excuses to ignore the miracle of your love;
to inflate our own importance, we belittle others.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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