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 04, 2010


Bonds of Servanthood

I. Readings
Psalms 98, 146, 66, 116
Leviticus 16:20-34
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Matthew 6:7-15

II. Selections
Psalm 116:16
O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.
You have loosed my bonds.

Leviticus 16:34a
This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the people of Israel once in the year for all their sins.

1 Thessalonians 5:11
Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.

Matthew 6:11
“…Give us this day our daily bread. … ” [Jesus to the crowds on the mountain]

III. Meditation

You have loosed our bonds of sin and separation,
replaced them with the bonds of servanthood.
You have made atonement for all our sins.

Show us how to encourage one another
and build up one another, trusting you to
provide day by day the bread we need to eat.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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