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.

May Your Spirit Intercede--July 9, 2012



When we wait for you in silence,
does your Spirit intercede for us?

Does the Spirit help us in our weakness
when we do not know how to pray as we ought?

After our prayers, will our lives be different?
Those are the promises in which we hope.

Or will I still teach one thing
and do another?

Will I live in comfort while others
fight the battle against injustice,
deprivation, and oppression?

Forbid this, O God--
may your Spirit intercede.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 62; 145; 73; 9
Numb. 32:1-6, 16-27
Rom. 8:26-30
Matt. 23:1-12

Selected Verses
Ps. 62:5
For God alone my soul waits in silence,
      for my hope is from him.

Numb. 32:6
But Moses said to the Gadites and to the Reubenites, "Shall your brothers go to war while you sit here? …"

Rom. 8:26
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

Matt. 23:1-3
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. …"
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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