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.

Division or Unity?--September 7, 2010


I. Readings
Psalms 42, 146, 102, 133
Job 29:1-20
Acts 14:1-18
John 10:31-42

II. Selections
Psalm 133:1
How very good and pleasant it is
      when kindred live together in unity!

Job 29:15-16
“…I was eyes to the blind,
      and feet to the lame.
I was a father to the needy,
      and I championed the cause of the stranger. … ”
[Job]

Acts 14:4
But the residents of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles.

John 10:32
Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?”

III. Meditation

How very good and pleasant it is to live together in unity!
How bitter and painful it is to be divided. Even good works
can engender bitterness and strife if there is anger in our hearts.

Give us instead open, loving hearts that cause us to care
for one another—not only for our families and friends,
but for the blind, the lame, the stranger, and the needy.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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