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 30, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 65, 91, 125
Judges 3:12-30
Acts 1:1-14
Matthew 27:45-54

II. Selections
Psalm 65:6
By your strength you established the mountains;
you are girded with might.

Judges 3:15a
But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man.

Acts 1:3
After [ Jesus'] suffering he presented himself alive to [ his apostles] by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

Matthew 27:50
Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last.

III. Meditation: By your strength

By your strength you established the mountains;
you are girded with might, and you have raised up
many strong warriors to deliver your people; but
there is more than one kind of strength, and there
is more than one kind of deliverer. Jesus showed
us strength by suffering; after he breathed his last
you raised him up, and he presented himself alive.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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