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.

Fallen Like Falling Stars--Oct. 21, 2010


I. Readings
Psalms 143, 147:12-20, 81, 116
Micah 5:1-4, 10-15
Revelation 9:1-12
Luke 10:25-37

II. Selections
Psalm 116:1
I love the LORD, because he has heard
      my voice and my supplications.

Micah 5:4a
And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD,
      in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.

Revelation 9:1-2
And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit; he opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft.

Luke 10:37
[The lawyer] said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

III. Meditation

We love you because you have heard our supplications;
you have had mercy upon us. Shall not we be merciful?

Like a shepherd of your flock, you stand and feed us.
Shall not we feed others—are we deaf to their supplications?

We have fallen like falling stars into a bottomless pit as we
separate ourselves from your love by not loving those in need.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)