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 21, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 65, 91, 125
Ezra 10:1-17
Revelation 21:9-21
Matthew 17:22-27

II. Selections
Psalm 125:3
For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
on the land allotted to the righteous,
so that the righteous might not stretch out
their hands to do wrong.

Ezra 10:3
" ...So now let us make a covenant with our God to send away all these [ foreign] wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord [ Ezra] and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law. ... " [ Shecaniah to Ezra]

Revelation 21:15
The angel who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the [ holy city Jerusalem] and its gates and walls.

Matthew 17:22
As [ Jesus and his disciples] were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands ..."

III. Meditation: Good hands stretched out for ill

You measure with a measuring rod of gold;
but all too often the land of the righteous
is ruled by the scepter of wickedness,
and good hands stretch to do wrong.

Human hands betrayed the Son of Man;
decent hands broke up families, and
sent wives and children into exile,
and presumed they did your will.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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