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.


Let a Door Stand Open--Oct. 25, 2011



May your eye be upon me, O God,
lest the words of my mouth
be mischief and conceit.

I want to be fertile soil for the seeds you sow,
but thorns grow up and choke them out,
and I fail to act wisely or do good.

Most merciful God, unless you leave
a door standing open for me,
how can I enter in?

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 12; 146; 36; 7
Ezra 5:1-17
Rev. 4:1-11
Matt. 13:1-9

Selected Verses
Ps. 36:3
The words of their mouths are mischief and deceit;
      they have ceased to act wisely and do good.

Ezra 5:5
But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, and [the officials who questioned them for building the temple] did not stop them until a report reached Darius and then answer was returned by letter in reply to it.

Rev. 4:1a
After this I looked, and there in heaven a door stood open!

Matt. 13:7
Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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