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.

Give Us Strength to Stand--June 24, 2019

[From June 24, 2013 archive]

You are good to all; your compassion
is over all that you have made.

Open the doors behind which we lock ourselves,
and free us to stand and tell your message.

God, make us alert to the idolatry that surrounds us,
and give us the strength to escape its effects;

else when we come to stand before the Son of Man,
we--like the idol Dagon--shall fall on our face.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 135; 145; 97; 112
1 Sam. 5:1-12
Acts 5:12-26
Luke 21:29-36

Selected Verses
Ps. 145:9
 The LORD is good to all,
          and his compassion is over all that he has made.

1 Sam. 5:3a
When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD.

Acts 5:19-20
But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought [the apostles] out, and said,  “Go, stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life.”

Luke 21:36
“…Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”  [Jesus, to his disciples]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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