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 25, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 32, 130, 139
Joshua 9:22-10:15
Romans 15:14-24
Matthew 27:1-10

II. Selections
Psalm 32:9
Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle,
else it will not stay near you.

Joshua 9:22
Joshua summoned [ the Gibeonites], and said to them, "Why did you deceive us, saying, 'We are far from you,' while in fact you are living among us? ... "

Romans 15:23-24a
But now, with no further place for me in these regions, I desire, as I have for many years, to come to you when I go to Spain.

Matthew 27:1
When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus in order to bring about his death.

III. Meditation: Without understanding

Without you we are without understanding:
we confer with one another for bad causes;
we deceive one another from fear and mistrust.
When we make our plans, whether for home
or for far places, be with us in our planning.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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