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 27, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 7, 12, 36
Nahum 1:1-13
1 Peter 1:13-25
Matthew 19:13-22

II. Selections
Psalm 7:15
They make a pit, digging it out,
and fall into the hole that they have made.

Nahum 1:13
" ...And now I will break off his yoke from you
and snap the bonds that bind you."
[ The LORD to Judah]

1 Peter 1:21
Through [ Christ] you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.

Matthew 19:21-22
Jesus said to [ the rich young man], "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

III. Meditation: The hole we dig

Perhaps the hole we dig is not to trap
our enemies, but to hide our possessions.
Either way, it is a trap we fall into ourselves.

Break off this yoke from us and snap
the bonds that bind us to our possessions,
so that our faith and hope may be set on you.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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