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.

August 04, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 9, 62, 73
Judges 6:25-40
Acts 2:37-47
John 1:1-18

II. Selections
Psalm 9:18
For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
nor the hope of the poor perish forever.

Judges 6:27
So Gideon took ten of his servants, and did as the LORD had told him; but because he was too afraid of his family and the townspeople to do it by day, he did it by night.

Acts 2:37
Now when [ the crowd gathered at Pentecost] heard [ Peter's speech], they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?"

John 1:16
From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

III. Meditation: Even by night

Shall the needy always be forgotten,
the hope of the poor perish forever?

We ask what we should do,
though we know the answer;
for from your fullness we have
all received, grace upon grace.

We know the answer;
but we are afraid to do it,
even by night.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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