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 23, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 6, 20, 88
Nehemiah 9:26-38
Revelation 22:6-13
Matthew 18:10-20

II. Selections
Psalm 88:6
You have put me in the depths of the Pit,
in the regions dark and deep.

Nehemiah 9:31
" ...Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of [ your people] or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God. ... " [ Ezra's prayer]

Revelation 22:13
" ...I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."

Matthew 18:12
" ...What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? ... " [ Jesus to his disciples]

III. Meditation: Regions dark and deep

You are a gracious and merciful God,
the Alpha and the Omega; but when
we go astray and find ourselves in
the depths of the Pit, in regions dark
and deep, will you search for us?

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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