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.


To Drink the Cup You Drank--Aug. 11, 2011


With James and John we ask for your blessing
but do not know what we are asking for.

Instead of pleasures forevermore,
David was betrayed by son Absalom;

Paul was arrested on false accusation,
jailed, and finally put to death;

Jesus was betrayed
and executed.

Show us the path of life
with fortitude to follow it.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 97; 147:12-20; 16; 62
2 Sam. 15:1-18
Acts 21:27-36
Mark 10:32-45

Selected Verses
Ps. 16:11
You show me the path of life.
      In your presence there is fullness of joy;
      in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

2 Sam. 15:6
Thus Absalom did to every Israelite who came to the king for judgment; so Absalom stole the hearts of the people of Israel.

Acts 21:27-28
When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, who had seen him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd. They seized him, shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this place; more than that, he has actually brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

Mark 10:38
But Jesus said to [James and John], “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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