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.


Loose My Bonds--May 10, 2011


Lord Jesus, you released victims from unclean spirits;
loose my bonds, except those that bind me to you.

Spare me from admiring my own little empire
instead of your kingdom of love.

Abide in me, that I may abide in love,
and so abide in you.


Lectionary Readings
Ps. 98; 146; 66; 116
Dan. 4:28-37
1 John 4:7-21
Luke 4:31-37

Selected Verses
Ps. 116:16
O LORD, I am your servant;
      I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.
      You have loosed my bonds.

Dan. 4:30
…and [King Nebuchadnezzar] said, “Is this not magnificent Babylon, which I have built as a royal capital by my mighty power and for my glorious majesty?”

1 John 4:16b
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.

Luke 4:36
[The people in the synagogue] were all amazed and kept saying to one another, “What kind of utterance is this? For with authority and power [Jesus] commands the unclean spirits, and out they come!”
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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