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.

Out of Distress, We Call--Feb. 22, 2020


Out of our distress, we call on you, O God;
we want you to set us in a broad place
and be with us wherever we go.
Very often you answer.

But then make us aware
of others who are distressed.
Give us courage to be with them,
showing your love in truth and action.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 56; 149; 118; 111
Gen. 35:1-20
1 John 3:11-18
John 11:1-16

Selected Verses
Ps. 118:5
Out of my distress I called on the LORD;
          the LORD answered me and set me in a broad place.

Gen. 35:2-3
So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your clothes; then come, let us go up to Bethel, that I may make an altar there to the God who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”

1 John 3:17-18
How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?  Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.

John 11:8,16
The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?”  …Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

2 comments:

  1. Mea SententiaFebruary 22, 2020 at 8:59 AM

    Well done today.
    This is your 5536th post. Your daily faithfulness to this work is inspiring.

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  2. Elmer E. EwingFebruary 23, 2020 at 9:49 PM

    Thanks, Chris. I don't usually pay attention to the number, but I recently noticed that the "odometer" was rolling toward 5,555. Five happens to be my favorite number: married in '55, five children, five letters in each of my names, all of which start with the fifth letter of the alphabet, etc. Well, it isn't really an accurate count, because it refers only to the number that I posted. I was actually doing this in a journal FIVE years before I started the blog. As for being a sign of dedication, I fear it is more of a sign that I am stuck in a rut. But I appreciate your kind words.

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