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.

Tread Down Our Foes--Oct. 29, 2017

[From Oct. 27, 2013 archive]

Tread down our foes, O God.

Let your Holy Spirit abide in us,
and fill us with courage--
tread down our fear.

Tread down our callousness,
that we may show mercy.

Tread down our indifference;
make us encouraging.

Tread down our hostility;
may we welcome
the alien.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 108; 150; 66; 23
Haggai 1:1-2:9
Acts 18:24-19:7
Luke 10:25-37

Selected Verses
Ps. 108:13
With God we shall do valiantly;
          it is he who will tread down our foes.

Haggai 2:4-5
Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the LORD; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the LORD; work, for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt.  My spirit abides among you; do not fear.

Acts 18:27a
And when [Apollos] wished to cross over to Achaia, the believers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.

Luke 10:36-37
"…Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” [The Lawyer] said, “The one who showed him mercy.”  Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise."

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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