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.

Pursuing Honor--Sept. 22, 2010


I. Readings
Psalms 65, 147:1-11, 125, 91
Esther 6:1-14
Acts 19:1-10
Luke 4:1-13

II. Selections
Psalm 91:5-6
You will not fear the terror of the night,
      or the arrow that flies by day,
or the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
      or the destruction that wastes at noonday.

Esther 6:6b
Haman said to himself, “Whom would the king wish to honor more than me?”

Acts 19:2
[Paul] said to [the disciples in Corinth], “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

Luke 4:1-2a
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.

III. Meditation

Haman thought himself worthy of the king’s honor;
he sought honor above all else—and lost everything.

Jesus was led by your Holy Spirit to the wilderness;
there he resisted every temptation to inflate his honor.

The disciples in Corinth had no awareness of the Spirit,
but you gave them the Spirit with the laying on of hands.

May we never forget—the pursuit of human honor is folly;
the Holy Spirit is a gift far more precious than human honor;
there is no need to fear anything when we live in your Spirit.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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