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.

June 11, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 96, 132, 134
Ecclesiastes 9:11-18
Galatians 5:1-15
Matthew 16:1-12

II. Selections
Psalm 132:3-5
"I will not enter my house
or get into my bed;
I will not give sleep to my eyes
or slumber to my eyelids,
until I find a place for the LORD,
a dwelling place for the mighty one of Jacob."
[ vow ascribed to David]

Ecclesiastes 9:12
For no one can anticipate the time of disaster. Like fish taken in a cruel net, and like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them.

Galatians 5:1
For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Matthew 16:3b
" ...You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. ... " [ Jesus to the Pharisees and Sadducees who had asked him for a sign]

III. Meditation: Set free from the snare

Even when we think we know
how to interpret the signs of
what will happen, we fail;
and we find ourselves
like fish caught in a cruel
net, birds caught in a snare;
as calamity suddenly falls on us.

Yet we are not slaves of fate;
Whatever happens to us,
Christ has set us free.
We can stand firm
as we vow to find a
place for you in our lives,
ere we give sleep to our eyes.

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