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.

Ending and Beginning--July 11, 2010


I. Readings
Psalms 103, 150, 117, 139
Joshua 1:1-18
Acts 21:3-15
Mark 1:21-27

II. Selections
Psalm 103:5
[Bless the LORD]…who satisfies you with good as long as you live
      so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Joshua 1:5b
After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying, “My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. … ”

Acts 21:5c-6
There we knelt down on the beach and prayed and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home.

Mark 1:21
[Jesus and his disciples] went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught.

III. Meditation

Loving God, each time we come to an ending
you are there to present us a new beginning.

Moses died, and Joshua led across the Jordan.
Jesus led fishers from their lake to Capernaum.

Paul knelt on the beach—farewell to his friends;
then he boarded his ship and sailed to Jerusalem.

You satisfy us with good as long as we live,
so that our youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

And when even the youth of the eagle expires
we trust you will provide us a new beginning.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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