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 15, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 56, 111, 118
Joel 3:9-17
James 2:1-13
Luke 16:10-18

II. Selections
Psalm 56:13
For you have delivered my soul from death,
and my feet from falling,
so that I may walk before God
in the light of life.

Joel 3:16c-d
But the LORD is a refuge for his people,
a stronghold for the people of Israel.

James 2:3
For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

Luke 16:10
" ...Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. ... "

III. Meditation: Our refuge, our judge

You are our refuge, our stronghold, our deliverer, our judge.
You are the one who shows us mercy and expects us to be merciful.
Make us faithful in small things, that we may grow
to be faithful in ultimate things.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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