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 16, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 46, 67, 93
Habakkuk 1:1-2:1
Philippians 3:13-4:1
Matthew 23:13-24

II. Selections
Psalm 46:8
The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.

Habakkuk 1:5
Look at the nations, and see!
Be astonished! Be astounded!
For a work is being done in your days
that you would not believe if your were told.

Philippians 3:19
Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.

Matthew 23:24
You blind guides! You strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

III. Meditation: Astonishing, beyond our belief

The nations are in an uproar; they totter.
Even when you tell us what is happening,
we do not believe it. It is astonishing, astounding.

We strain out gnats and swallow camels.
When our god is the belly, and we glory
in our shame, and our minds are set on
earthly things, then our end is destruction.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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