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.

Drive Out the Legion of Demons--May 2, 2013


 God, you declared your word to Jacob,
your statutes and ordinances to Israel;
and you sent your word to Jeremiah
while he was the king's prisoner.

Sometimes we think we know your word,
but one discerns that you have said one
thing, and one is sure of the opposite.

We become as conflicted as the Gerasene
who was filled with a legion of demons.

Drive out the demons that divide us, that
make us pass judgment on each other.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 47; 147:12-20; 68; 113
Jer. 33:1-13
Rom. 14:1-12
Luke 8:26-39

Selected Verses

Ps. 147:19
[The LORD] declares his word to Jacob,
          his statutes and ordinances to Israel.

Jer. 33:1
The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still confined in the court of the guard…

Rom. 14:4
Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another?  It is before their own lord that they stand or fall.  And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

Luke 8:30
Jesus then asked the [Gerasene who lived in the tombs], “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him.  

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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