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.

Rules Will Not Bind You--August 27, 2010


I. Readings
Psalms 88, 148, 6, 20
Job 9:1-15, 32-35
Acts 10:34-48
John 7:37-52

II. Selections
Psalm 88:1-2
O LORD, God of my salvation,
      when, at night, I cry out in your presence,
let my prayer come before you;
      incline your ear to my cry.

Job 9:12
“…[God] snatches away; who can stop him?
      Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’ … ”
[Job answers Bildad]

Acts 10:46b-47
Then Peter said, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”

John 7:52
[The Pharisees] replied [to Nicodemus], “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.”

III. Meditation

O God of our salvation,

In your eyes our origin seems not to matter.
In the eyes of the righteous of his day
Jesus came from a place of low regard.
The Holy Spirit descended upon Gentiles as well as Jews.

You are not bound by our rules,
or even by your own rules—
at least not as we comprehend them.
You give and you take away.

Who are we to challenge what you do?
We cannot control you; but we can cry out to you,
confident that you will hear our cry,
confident that you are God of our salvation.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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