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.

Answering a Summons--June 28, 2010


I. Readings
Psalms 57, 145, 85, 47
Numbers 22:1-21
Romans 6:12-23
Matthew 21:12-22

II. Selections
Psalm 57:1
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
      for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
      until the destroying storms pass by.

Numbers 22:20
That night God came to Balaam and said to him, “If the men have come to summon you, get up and go with them; but do only what I tell you to do.”

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Matthew 21:17
[Jesus] left [the chief priests and the scribes], went out of the city [of Jerusalem] to Bethany, and spent the night there.

III. Meditation

Lord Jesus, you left Jerusalem behind you, with all the
scribes and chief priests opposing you in the temple,
and made your way to Bethany to spend the night.

Perhaps you realized you were about to be faced
with a summons you would not want to answer.
If so, you must have prayed to the Father for
refuge until the destroying storms passed by.

Yet you answered your summons; and we
have received the free gift of eternal life.
We praise your name, Jesus our Lord.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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