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 22, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 22, 105, 130
Genesis 43:1-15
1 Corinthians 7:1-9
Mark 4:35-41

II. Selections
Psalm 105:5
Remember the wonderful works he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he uttered ...

Genesis 43:14
" ...may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, so that he may send back your other brother and Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved." [ Jacob to his sons]

1 Corinthians 7:7b
But each has a particular gift from God, one having one kind and another a different kind.

Mark 4:38
But [ Jesus] was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and [ his disciples] woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"

III. Meditation: Mercies that we have received

We wonder whether you do not care that we are perishing.
Then we remember the wonderful works you have done,
the mercies that we have received, how you have given us gifts,
different kinds for different persons.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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