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.

April 23, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 9, 99, 118
Leviticus 19:1-18
1 Thessalonians 5:12-28
Matthew 6:19-24

II. Selections
Psalm 118:22
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.

Leviticus 19:10
You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the LORD your God.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-21
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good ...

Matthew 6:23b
" ...If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! ... " [ Jesus, seated on the mountain, speaking to the crowds]

III. Meditation: Which rock do we choose?

With so many rocks in the pile,
can we identify the cornerstone?

Not if we quench your Spirit,
and our inner light is darkness.

Not if we despise the prophets
and leave nothing for the poor.

Teach us how to test everything
and hold fast to the cornerstone.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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