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.

Rooted Downward, Looking Upward--Oct. 7, 2017

[From Oct. 3, 2015 archive]

Wherever we go, we want to follow Jesus,
even if we have nowhere to lay our head;

but God, when we think we are standing,
surround us with your loving presence
and watch over us that we do not fall.

Then let us take root downward
in the earth to serve you here,
while we look upward to you
and bear fruit.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 63; 149; 125; 90
2 Kings 19:21-36
1 Cor. 10:1-13
Matt. 8:18-27

Selected Verses
Ps. 125:2
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
          so the LORD surrounds his people,
          from this time on and forevermore. 

2 Kings 19:30
The surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward…

1 Cor. 10:12
So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.

Matt. 8:19-20
A scribe then approached and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."  And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." 

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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