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.

March 19, 2010

An Alien in a Foreign Land

I. Readings
Psalms 22, 148, 105, 130
Exodus 2:1-22
1 Corinthians 12:27-13:3
Mark 9:2-13

II. Selections
Psalm 22:4-5
In you our ancestors trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried, and were saved;
in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.

Exodus 2:22
[Moses’ wife, Zipporah] bore a son, and he named him Gershom; for he said, “I have been an alien residing in a foreign land.”

1 Corinthians 12:27
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

Mark 9:8
Suddenly when [Peter, James, and John] looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

III. Meditation

Merciful God, in you our ancestors trusted,
and you delivered them; you saved them.

When suddenly we feel all alone,
like an alien in a foreign land,

remind us that though we are individuals,
we are also members of the body of Christ.

Then when we look around us,
we will see Jesus. We pray in his name.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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