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.

June 01, 2010


Deeds of Power, or Not?

I. Readings
Psalms 54, 146, 28, 99
Ecclesiastes 2:16-26
Galatians 1:18-2:10
Matthew 13:53-58

II. Selections
Psalm 28:1
To you, O LORD, I call;
      my rock, do not refuse to hear me,
for if you are silent to me,
      I shall be like those who go down to the Pit.

Ecclesiastes 2:18-19
I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me—and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.

Galatians 2:2b
Then I laid before them (though only in a private meeting with the acknowledged leaders) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain.

Matthew 13:54
[Jesus] came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power?”

III. Meditation

We are loath to think that our efforts have been all for naught.
Even St. Paul was keen to make sure he had not been running

in vain. It is part of our wanting to control things; in the end,
we have no control. Only when you work through us do we

act in wisdom and with deeds of power. We must learn to call
on you, and then we must learn to leave the worrying to you.

If you are working through us, our efforts will not be wasted;
if you are not, the outcome of what we do will hardly matter.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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