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.

July 23, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 4, 15, 48
Joshua 8:30-35
Romans 14:13-23
Matthew 26:57-68

II. Selections
Psalm 15:1
O LORD, who may abide in your tent?
Who may dwell on your holy hill? ;

Joshua 8:32
And there, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.

Romans 14:17
For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 26:58
But Peter was following [ Jesus] from a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest; and going inside, he sat with the guards in order to see how this would end.

III. Meditation: Who may abide? ;

We follow you, but from a distance,
intrigued, but not quite committed.

We want to see how things will end.
We wonder what we must do to abide
in your tent, or dwell on your holy hill.

We can find the answer, carved in stone;
yet in the end your kingdom is not rules,
but righteousness, peace, joy in the Spirit.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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