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.

November 10, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 97, 112, 135
Joel 1:15-2:3
Revelation 18:15-24
Luke 14:12-24

II. Selections
Psalm 97:4
His lightnings light up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.

Joel 1:20
Even the wild animals cry to you
because the watercourses are dried up,
and fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness.

Revelation 18:17b-18
And all shipmasters and seafarers, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off and cried out as they saw the smoke of [ "Babylon's," i.e., Rome's] burning, "What city was like the great city?"

Luke 14:13-14
" ...But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." [ Jesus to his dinner host, a leader of the Pharisees]

III. Meditation: Payback deferred

Perhaps we may tremble when your lightnings light up the world,
or cry out to you when wildfires devour the droughty wilderness,
or mourn the loss when from afar we see a great city burn down;
but none of these makes us as nervous as does your instruction-
entertain only the needy, and in this life expect no repayment.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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