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.


I Pray, No Stumbling Block--May 27, 2011


Almighty God, I am one who waits for your return,
concerned that you have forsaken the work of your hands.

And I am also one of your foolish and senseless people, prone
to forget that you are the Father who created and established us.

God, let me resolve that I will never allow my foolishness
to put a stumbling block in the way of someone else.


Lectionary Readings
Ps. 96; 148; 49; 138
Deut. 31:30-32:14
Rom. 14:13-23
Luke 8:40-56

Selected Verses
Ps. 138:8
The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
      your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.
      Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Deut. 32:6
Do you thus repay the LORD,
      O foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your father, who created you,
      who made you and established you?

Rom. 14:13
Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another.

Luke 8:40
Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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