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.

November 04, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 103, 117, 139
Ezra 1:1-11
Acts 20:7-12
Luke 12:22-31

II. Selections
Psalm 139:9-10
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me
and your right hand shall hold me fast.

Ezra 1:5
The heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites-everyone whose spirit God had stirred-got ready to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD in Jerusalem.

Acts 20:10
But Paul went down, and bending over [ Eutychus, the boy who had fallen three floors to the ground,] took him in his arms, and said, "Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him."

Luke 12:26
" ...If then you are not able to do so small a thing as [ by worrying, adding a single hour to your span of life], why do you worry about the rest? ... " [ Jesus to his disciples]

III. Meditation: Not even one hour to our span

Even at the farthest limits of the sea
your hand will lead us-hold us fast.

You stirred the spirits of the exiles to
return to Jerusalem, rebuild the temple.

You were with the boy who fell three
floors, and with Paul, who healed him.

Not one hour can we add by worrying;
why should we worry about the rest?

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