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.


In Life, in Death, to Dance Before You--July 31, 2011

[from July 31, 2005 archive]

You are with us; your rod
and your staff--they comfort us.

We do not live to ourselves,
and we do not die to ourselves.

If we live, we live to you,
and if we die, we die to you;

so then, whether we live or
whether we die, we are yours.

Jesus promised Nathanael he would see heaven
opened and the angels of God ascending
and descending upon the Son of Man.

We may not be privileged to see angels
dance up and down before you; but like David--
who did not care what others thought--
we can dance before you ourselves.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 108; 150; 66; 23
2 Sam. 6:12-23
Rom. 14:7-12
John 1:43-51

Selected Verses
Ps. 23:4b
…for you are with me;
      your rod and your staff—
      they comfort me.

2 Sam. 6:21
David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose me in place of your father and all his household, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the LORD, that I have danced before the LORD. …"

Rom. 14:7-8
We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.

John 1:51
And [Jesus] said to [Nathanael], "Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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