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.

May 11, 2010


Iron Sky, Copper Earth

I. Readings
Psalms 98, 146, 66, 116
Leviticus 26:1-20
1 Timothy 2:1-6
Matthew 13:18-23

II. Selections
Psalm 66:11-12
You brought us into the net;
you laid burdens on our backs;
you let people ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.

Leviticus 26:19
I will break your proud glory, and I will make your sky like iron and your earth like copper.

1 Timothy 2:5-6a
For there is one God;
there is also one mediator between God and humankind,
Christ Jesus, himself human,
who gave himself a ransom for all.

Matthew 13:22
“…As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. … ” [Jesus to his disciples]

III. Meditation

You have broken our proud glory, turning
our sky to iron and our earth to copper.

You have brought us into the net,
you have laid burdens on our backs,
and people have ridden over our heads.

Have mercy on us, and bring us out
into a broad place, free from the thorns
that are choking our lives; for you
have given yourself a ransom for all.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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