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.

Bewitched?--Jan. 27, 2011

We forget you, forget all you have done for us.
We follow our own counsels—our hearts too
stubborn to listen, or to walk in your ways.
Why so foolish—who has bewitched us?

Though we forget you, you do not forget us.
But you do call us to account: How many
loaves have I given you already? Go see.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 143; 147:12-20; 81; 116
Isa. 49:13-26
Gal. 3:1-14
Mark 6:30-46

Selected Verses
Ps. 81:12-13
“…So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
      to follow their own counsels.
O that my people would listen to me,
      that Israel would walk in my ways! …”

Isa. 49:15
Can a woman forget her nursing child,
      or show no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even these may forget,
      yet I will not forget you.

Gal. 3:1a
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?

Mark 6:38
And [Jesus] said to [his disciples], “How many loaves have you? Go and see.” When they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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