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.

Would a Sign from Heaven Change Us?--Oct. 27, 2014


When we envy the prosperity of the wicked,
your prophets are a torment to us, O God.
Would a sign from heaven change us?
Must we wait until our lives begin
to ebb away before we remember
you and our prayer comes to you?

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 62; 145; 73; 9
Jonah 1:17-2:10
Rev. 11:1-14
Luke 11:14-26

Selected Verses
Ps. 73:3
For I was envious of the arrogant;
          I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Jonah 2:7
As my life was ebbing away,
     I remembered the LORD;
and my prayer came to you,
     into your holy temple. 

Rev. 11:10
…and the inhabitants of the earth will gloat over [the dead bodies of the prophets] and celebrate and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to the inhabitants of the earth.

Luke 11:14-26
Others, to test [Jesus], kept demanding from him a sign from heaven. 

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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