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.

To Dwell in God’s House--Oct. 25, 2020

 

To dwell in your house, dear God, 

is to dwell there with others.

You did not make us to 

dwell there alone.

 

We are to gather with others 

and seek their advantage

rather than our own. 

We pray together,

work together.

 

To flee from our responsibility

is to run away from you.

To accept it is to find

true goodness 

and mercy.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 108; 150; 66; 23

Jonah 1:1-17a

1 Cor. 10:15-24

Matt. 18:15-20

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 23:6

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
          all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
          my whole life long.

 

Jonah 1:3

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.”  But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.  He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.

 

1 Cor. 10:24

Do not seek your own advantage, but that of the other.

 

Matt. 18:20

“…For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”  [Jesus, to his disciples]


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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