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.

In the Presence of Our Enemies--June 7, 2015


Jesus, there are secret things that belong to you--
free us from the desire to understand them;
satisfy us with the knowledge you have given us,
that we may learn to observe your words.

When we need to flee into the wilderness of life,
prepare a place for us there and nourish us;
you fed the crowd with loaves and fish--feed us,
even if it be in the presence of our enemies.
(And feed our enemies, too!)

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 108; 150; 66; 23
Deut. 29:16-29
Rev. 12:1-12
Matt. 15:29-39

Selected Verses
Ps. 23:5
You prepare a table before me
          in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
          my cup overflows. 

Deut. 29:29
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the revealed things belong to us and to our children forever, to observe all the words of this law.

Rev. 12:6
…and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, so that there she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred sixty days.

Matt. 15:36
…[Jesus] took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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