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.

February 04, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 5, 29, 82
Proverbs 27:1-6, 10-12
Philippians 2:1-13
John 18:15-18, 25-27

II. Selections
Psalm 82:4
" ...Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked."
[ God to the divine council]

Proverbs 27:5
Better is open rebuke
than hidden love.

Philippians 2:1
If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, and compassion and sympathy ...

John 18:25
Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. [ The slaves and the police] asked him, "You are not also one of his disciples, are you?" He denied it and said, "I am not."

III. Meditation: To warm by the fire and deny

Your instructions are abundantly clear:
Rescue and deliver the weak and the needy.
We must encourage them in Christ, share
in the Spirit with compassion and sympathy.
To hide our love from them is like open rebuke;
it is to warm by the fire and deny we know Christ.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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