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.

Jesus Was Silent--July 21, 2010

 
I. Readings
Psalms 15, 147:1-11, 48, 4
Joshua 8:30-35
Romans 14:13-23
Matthew 26:57-68

II. Selections
Psalms 4:8
I will both lie down and sleep in peace;
      for you alone, O LORD, make me lie down in safety.

Joshua 8:35
There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the aliens who resided among them.

Romans 14:19
Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

Matthew 26:63a
But Jesus was silent.

III. Meditation

O ever watchful God, Jesus was silent before his accusers.
Can I not then be silent about the small things that disturb me?

It is good to make others aware of your word, no doubt;
but not as reprimand or judgment over small infractions.

Help us pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding;
and at the end of the day let us lie down and sleep in peace,
secure in the safety that you provide, O watchful and caring God.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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