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 27, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 32, 130, 139
Numbers 20:1-13
Romans 5:12-21
Matthew 20:29-34

II. Selections
Psalm 139:7
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?

Numbers 20:4
" ...Why have you brought the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? ... " [ The people of Israel to Moses and Aaron]

Romans 5:21
...so that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace might also exercise dominion through justification leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Matthew 20:31
The crowd sternly ordered [ the two blind men] to be quiet; but they shouted even more loudly, "Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David!"

III. Meditation: No escape

Where can we go from your Spirit, where flee from your presence?
The Israelites doubted your presence with them in the wilderness.
The crowd at Jericho did not believe you could be with the blind.
Through Christ you exercise your dominion over life and death.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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