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 09, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 63, 90, 125
Judges 9:22-25, 50-57
Acts 4:32-5:11
John 2:13-25

II. Selections
Psalms 90:1
LORD, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.

Judges 9:52-53
Abimelech came to the tower, and fought against it, and came near to the entrance of the tower to burn it with fire. But a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech's head, and crushed his skull.

Acts 4:32
Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.

John 2:15
Making a whip of cords, [ Jesus] drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.

III. Meditation: In you we dwell

Gracious God, in you we dwell
and have dwelt for generations.

Make all who believe in you one
in heart and soul-ready to share.

Overturn the tables of our greed,
drive out impediments to worship.

But ere millstones fall to crush us,
teach us: violence begets violence.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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