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.


You Do See!--Nov. 3, 2011

Note: On the whole, I appreciate the Daily Lectionary; but I have a small quarrel with the psalm selections. Omitted entirely is one of my favorites, the gentle 131st. I understand why 109 is not favored (vengeful and vindictive throughout), but must we throw out the expressive lament in 137 just because of its brutal final verse? After all, the last three verses of 149 are extremely vicious; yet, as one of the laudate psalms, 149 is served up every Saturday. Psalm 10 is an outcry to God against oppressors--belligerently worded, but honest. (It should resonate with the OWS protestors.) I have substituted Psalm 10 for Psalm 16 in my lectionary readings today.

O God, you do see!
We worry and despair over trouble and grief,
we give up hope that you will rescue the victims;
but you see, and you will act.

You see also those who study your law,
and teach it, and do it.
Those who suffer, and those who labor
to do your will, are under your loving eye.

They will rest, they will find salvation,
and their deeds shall follow them.
We have the example of John the Baptist.
We have the example of Jesus.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 97; 147:12-20; 10; 62
Ezra 7:1-26
Rev. 14:1-13
Matt. 14:1-12

Selected Verses
Ps. 10:14
But you do see! Indeed you note trouble and grief,
      that you may take it into your hands;
the helpless commit themselves to you;
      you have been the helper of the orphan.

Ezra 7:10
For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach the statutes and ordinances in Israel.

Rev. 14:13
And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them."

Matt. 14:1-2
At that time Herod the ruler heard reports about Jesus; and he said to his servants, "This is John the Baptist; he has been raised from the dead, and for this reason these powers are at work in him."
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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