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.

Like a Weaned Child--July 14, 2020


How do we regard the gifts
you give to us, dear God?

As an invitation to use them
to take advantage of others?

Or to use them for others,
or to hide them away?

To become proud,
or to stand in awe
and quiet humility
before you?

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 42; 146; 102; 131 Note: Today for Ps. 133 I am substituting Ps. 131 as a small protest over the omission of this simple, beautiful psalm from the Lectionary.
Josh. 2:15-24
Rom. 11:13-24
Matt. 25:14-30

Selected Verses
Ps. 131:1-2
O LORD, my heart is not lifted up,
            my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
            too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
            like a weaned child with its mother;
            my soul within me is like a weaned child.

Josh. 2:24
[The two returning spies] said to Joshua, “Truly the LORD has given all the land into our hands; moreover all the inhabitants of the land melt in fear before us.”

Rom. 11:20b
So do not become proud, but stand in awe.

Matt. 25:14-15a
“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability.  …”

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

6 comments:

  1. JoMaeJuly 14, 2020 at 10:42 AM

    Thanks for this morning’s use of Psalm 131. It is a favorite of mine, sadly unfamiliar until I stumbled on it one day in the midst of facing new questions about gender and God. Raised on the KJV, I was well into motherhood myself before noticing there was no Mother in God’s family - and wondering why, as children we were not taught to see how our Mothers reflect the image of our Creator the way we were taught how our Fathers do. This Psalm landed like a lullaby on my heart! I wrote it down at the time: https://annaver.blogspot.com/2015/05/mothers-day-lullaby.html

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  2. Elmer E. EwingJuly 14, 2020 at 4:15 PM

    Thank you, JoMae. I'm glad it's a favorite of yours, too, and also glad for the link to your blog. I completely agree with what you posted ther. You are probably familiar with Isaiah 49:14-15. "A Brief Statement of Faith," part of the Book of Confessions of the Presbyterian Church (USA), contains these lines based on those two verses: "Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, God is faithful still."

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    1. JoMaeJuly 14, 2020 at 8:29 PM

      Yes, I know the verse, but appreciate the reminder. There are so many glimpses of the feminine, but for too long, blinded by tradition, I was unable to really see them. Also Hosea 11:3-4 - which for me surely is a motherly image as well as fatherly.

      I like those lines from your Statement of Faith. I should check to see if we have anything similar in the Christian Reformed denomination. However, I’m afraid we have made far less progress than you folks in this area.

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  3. Elmer E. EwingJuly 14, 2020 at 5:31 PM

    p.s. JoMae, you might find interesting a sermon I preached on the "Womb-ishness" of God. It was taken from the Isaiah verses I just mentioned, although the term is borrowed from the late Marcus Borg. If you click on "My hymn on Habakkuk, and other writings" (under "My other writings…" on the left side of this blog} it will take you to my website, where you will find the sermon listed. Just click on the title.

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    1. JoMaeJuly 16, 2020 at 8:24 PM

      Thank you. I read it this morning and enjoy your tone and language in terms of God. I’d found and read a couple others before, but not that one. I like the “Womb-ishness” of God - God, who formed and gave us birth - and the freedom to affirm and speak of it.

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  4. Elmer E. EwingJuly 17, 2020 at 12:20 AM

    Yes--God, who formed and gave us birth - and the freedom to affirm and speak of it. Thank you.

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