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.

Dusting off Feet in Protest--July 20, 2015


Forgiving God, faithful in all your words
and gracious in all your deeds,
make us faithful, gracious, and forgiving.

Teach us to repay evil with good, not evil,
to protest by dusting off our feet,
not in hateful, vengeful, violent reaction.

Make us be good soil to receive your seeds
of love, forgiveness, and grace,
that we may hear your word and be fruitful.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 135; 145; 97; 112
1 Sam. 24:1-22
Acts 13:44-52
Mark 4:1-20

Selected Verses
Ps. 145:13b
 The LORD is faithful in all his words,
          and gracious in all his deeds. 

1 Sam. 24:17
[Saul] said to David, “You are more righteous than I; for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil.  …"

Acts 13:44-52
So [Paul and Barnabas] shook the dust off their feet in protest against [those who had persecuted them], and went to Iconium. 

Mark 4:20
"…And these are the [seeds] sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”  [Jesus to his disciples]
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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