Who Do You Think We Are?
I. Readings
Psalms 43, 149, 31, 143
Exodus 2:23-3:15
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Mark 9:14-29
II. Selections
Psalm 143:2
Do not enter into judgment with your servant,
for no one living is righteous before you.
Exodus 3:11
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
1 Corinthians 13:5b-7
[Love] does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Mark 9:18b
“…and I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so.” [The father of a boy with an unclean spirit, explaining to Jesus]
III. Meditation
Don’t expect us to be perfect, God;
no one living is righteous before you.
Don’t call us to confront Pharaoh—
what could we possibly accomplish?
As for casting out unclean spirits, the
disciples failed; we haven’t a chance.
Yet love believes all things and hopes
all things. It endures failure and pain.
Love rejoices even when someone else
is right, without irritation or resentment
or insisting on its own way. Fill us
with your love and end our whining.
Meditations inspired by readings from the Daily Lectionary as found in the Mission Yearbook of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
- Elmer E. Ewing
- 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.
"Elijah" - A bronze sculpture by a friend, the late Reverend Gurdon Brewster. Click on the image to see more of his sculptures.
Archives
Samples from the archives
- 3/19/18 Remedy for Hubris--A Child Could Do It
- 2/25/14 Unbind me, Jesus
- 10/26/13 Refreshing hearts, in Christ
- 8/9/13 When things I do displease you, God
- 2/7/13 Freed, saved, gathered in
- 1/1/13 For a joy that is complete
- 11/20/12 Though the fig tree does not blossom
- 11/19/12 Alas, my house is set on high
- 10/14/12 Held in your arms
- 9/14/12 The land cries out against us
- 8/29/12 The snare of false accusation
- 8/5/12 Tie up the strong man
- 4/5/12 We who dip bread
- 9/23/10 The right to be joyful
- 9/18/10 Chief cornerstone
- 7/27/10 Triumph over enemies
- 10/9/08 Our iniquity is great
- 5/14/08 When at night
- 2/17/08 The thin and ugly
- 1/17/07 We do not know you
- 1/3/07 Promises
- 1/2/07 For things not seen
- 10/3/06 Fear of you
- 10/2/06 Little we know
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