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.

Why Frightened or Dismayed?--June 2, 2014


God our God,
Maker of heaven and earth,
our help is in your name.

You are with us wherever we go--
Christ has given us access to you
through faith in him.  Why should
we be frightened or dismayed?

Give us the boldness and confidence
in your power and mercy that
Jesus praised in a centurion.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 97; 145; 124; 115
Josh. 1:1-9
Eph. 3:1-13
Matt. 8:5-17

Selected Verses
Ps. 124:8
Our help is in the name of the LORD,
          who made heaven and earth.

Josh. 1:9
"…I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."  [The LORD to Joshua]

Eph. 3:11-12
This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in him.  

Matt. 8:9
"…For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and the slave does it."  [A centurion to Jesus]
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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