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.

January 19, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 98, 104, 138
Genesis 6:9-22
Hebrews 4:1-13
John 2:13-22

II. Selections
Psalm 98:6
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD.

Genesis 6:18
But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. [ God to Noah]

Hebrews 4:13
And before [ God] no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.

John 2:15
Making a whip of cords, [ Jesus] drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.

III. Meditation: No one is hidden

To you, O God, we must render an account;
before you, all are laid bare; no one is hidden.

The money changers and the animal venders
Jesus also treated harshly. No trumpet or

horn calls of praise from them, we can be sure.
None either from the ones excluded from the ark.

These stories make you seem more severe than
we had hoped to find you. Were we mistaken?

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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