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.

Does Anyone Care?


What is it to us, Lord God,
that the innocent suffer and die?

Why not limit our care to those who
live among us, ignoring those far away?

God, what does it matter if they are not
told of you, or do not understand?

You ask, how can we be glad,  
rejoicing in you, and fail
to share your love?

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 130; 148; 32; 139
Josh. 9:22-10:15
Rom. 15:14-24
Matt. 27:1-10

Selected Verses
Ps. 32:11
Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous,
          and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

Josh. 9:22
Joshua summoned [the inhabitants of Gibeon], and said to them, “Why did you deceive us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ while in fact you are living among us?  …”

Rom. 15:21
…but as it is written, “Those who have never been told of him shall see, and those who have never heard of him shall understand.”

Matt. 27:4
[Judas] said, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”  But [the chief priests and elders] said, “What is that to us?  See to it yourself.”

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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