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 29, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 66, 98, 116
Leviticus 26:1-20
1 Timothy 2:1-6
Matthew 13:18-23

II. Selections
Psalm 66:13-14
I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
I will pay you my vows,
those that my lips uttered
and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.

Leviticus 26:18
And if in spite of this you will not obey me, I will continue to punish you sevenfold for your sins.

1 Timothy 2:3-4
This is right and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Matthew 13:19
When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path.

III. Meditation: Punished sevenfold

You desire everyone to be saved-
to come to knowledge of the truth.
It is not that we fail to hear this,
nor that we fail to understand it;
but unless we are in trouble, we
are not apt to take you seriously.

Perhaps this is why we find
ourselves punished sevenfold.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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