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.

God’s Victory--Aug. 1, 2020

 

May you take pleasure in your people,

O God, and may we act to deserve it.

 

May you adorn your people with victory,

but grant us a better understanding of it.

 

The mourning of a mother for her son

killed in battle is not a victory for you.

 

Your victory is over the power of death

and Jesus with us to the end of the age.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 122; 149; 100; 63

Judg. 5:19-31

Acts 2:22-36

Matt. 28:11-20

 

Selected Verses

Ps. 149:4

For the LORD takes pleasure in his people;
          he adorns the humble with victory.

 

Judg. 5:28

“Out of the window she peered, the mother of Sisera gazed through the lattice: ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?  Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?’  …”

 

Acts 2:24

But God raised [Jesus] up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. 

 

Matt. 28:20

“…And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  [The Risen Jesus, to his eleven disciples]


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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