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 27, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 46, 67, 93, 150
Genesis 13:2-18
Galatians 2:1-10
Mark 7:31-37

II. Selections
Psalm 93:1
The LORD is king, he is robed in majesty;
the LORD is robed, he is girded with strength.

Genesis 13:8
Then Abram said to Lot, "Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herders and my herders; for we are kindred. ... "

Galatians 2:9
...and when James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.

Mark 7:34
Then looking up to heaven, [ Jesus] sighed and said to [ the deaf man], "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened."

III. Meditation: Be opened

You are robed in majesty and girded with strength;
and it must make you sigh when our ears are closed,
when we break fellowship and fight with our kindred.
Banish the strife that divides us; make us recognize
your grace in one another and give our right hands.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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