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.

March 20, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 27, 102, 126
Lamentations 2:10-18
1 Corinthians 10:14-17; 11:27-32
Mark 14:12-25

II. Selections
Psalm 126:4
Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like the watercourses in the Negeb.

Lamentations 2:10
The elders of daughter Zion
sit on the ground in silence;
they have thrown dust on their heads
and put on sackcloth;
the young girls of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.

1 Corinthians 10:16
The cup of blessing that we share, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?

Mark 14:24
[ Jesus] said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many."

III. Meditation: Restore us

We sit on the ground in silence;
we throw dust on our head
and put on sackcloth.
We bow our head.

We share the cup of blessing,
the blood of the covenant,
the blood of Christ,
his broken body.

Through this shared blessing,
restore us as your rains
restore the desert
watercourses.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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