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.

April 09, 2010

The Real Mystery

I. Readings
Psalms 96, 148, 49, 138
Exodus 13:1-2, 11-16
1 Corinthians 15:51-58
Luke 24:1-12

II. Selections
Psalm 49:12
Mortals cannot abide in their pomp;
they are like the animals that perish.

Exodus 13:13b
“…Every firstborn male among your children you shall redeem. … ” [The LORD to Moses]

1 Corinthians 15:51a, 53
Listen, I will tell you a mystery. … For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

Luke 24:5
The women [who had come to the tomb with spices] were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the [two men in dazzling clothes] said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. … ”

III. Meditation

We mortals are like the animals. We cannot
abide in our pomp; we perish like animals.

Yet this perishable body must put on imperishability,
and this mortal body must put on immortality.

A mystery? The mystery is: if Christ has redeemed us,
why do we look for the living among the dead?
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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