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.

All Fashioned in the Womb--September 9, 2010


I. Readings
Psalms 97, 147:12-20, 16, 62
Job 29:1; 31:1-23
Acts 15:1-11
John 11:17-29

II. Selections
Psalm 16:2
I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
      I have no good apart from you.”

Job 31:15
“…Did not he who made me in the womb make [my male and female slaves]?
      And did not one fashion us in the womb? … ”
[Job defends himself]

Acts 15:1
Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

John 11:28-29
When [Martha] had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and said to her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him.

III. Meditation

There are always ones eager to recite what we must do to be saved.
Perhaps I should pay them more heed—but I know only that you
are my Lord, and I have no good apart from you; that you who
fashioned me in the womb likewise fashioned all humankind,
intending us to love one another; and that when you call
we should get up quickly and go to you, as did Mary.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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