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.


Your Eye on the Sparrow--Oct. 12, 2011

O God, you heal the brokenhearted
and bind up their wounds.

Even though you may want us
to be infants in evil,

you expect us to be adults
in our thinking.

When our fears drive us
to deceive ourselves,

remind us--no sparrow
falls, apart from you,

and we are of more value
than many sparrows.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 15; 147:1-11; 48; 4
Jer. 37:3-21
1 Cor. 14:13-25
Matt. 10:24-33

Selected Verses
Ps. 147:3
[The LORD] heals the brokenhearted,
      and binds up their wounds.

Jer. 37:9
Thus says the LORD: Do not deceive yourselves, saying, "The Chaldeans will surely go away from us," for they will not go away.

1 Cor. 14:20
Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in thinking be adults.

Matt. 10:29, 31
"…Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. …So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. …" [Jesus to his disciples, as he was sending them out]
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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