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.

For Those in Command--Oct. 8, 2019


God of our lives,
by day you command your steadfast love,
and at night your song is with us.

All things come from you,
and we are not independent
of you, nor even of one another.

Let any who would command others
be in awe of your authority, not of their own.

Lectionary Readings
Ps.42; 146; 102; 133
2 Kings 22:1-13
1 Cor. 11:2-22
Matt. 9:1-8

Selected Verses
Ps.42:8
By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,
          and at night his song is with me,
          a prayer to the God of my life.

2 Kings 22:12-13a
Then the king commanded the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary, and the king’s servant Asaiah, saying, “Go, inquire of the LORD for me, for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found…”

1 Cor. 11:11-12
Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man or man independent of woman.  For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman; but all things come from God.

Matt. 9:6b-8
…[Jesus] then said to the paralytic — “Stand up, take your bed and go to your home.” And he stood up and went to his home.  When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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