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 26, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 9, 99, 118
Exodus 12:40-51
1 Corinthians 15:29-41
Matthew 28:1-16

II. Selections
Psalm 118:12
[ The nations] surrounded me like bees;
they blazed like a fire of thorns;
in the name of the LORD I cut them off!

Exodus 12:49
...there shall be one law for the native and for the alien who resides among you. [ The LORD to Moses and Aaron]

1 Corinthians 15:38
But God gives [ what you sow] a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.

Matthew 28:9
Suddenly Jesus met [ Mary Magdalene and the other Mary] and said, "Greetings!" And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.

III. Meditation: One law of love

They had surrounded him like bees;
like a fire of thorns they had blazed.

Through the cross you cut them off,
gave him the body you had chosen.

He greeted Mary and the other Mary,
who came to hold his feet in worship.

Now native and alien alike bow down
to him, one law of love binding us all.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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