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.

We Herd the Wind--Oct. 12, 2020


[From Oct. 15, 2012 archive, adapted from my Oct. 14, 2002 journal]

 

How foolish we are--afraid of the only one

who can rescue us, the one who guards our lives.

 

We would rather herd the wind--depend upon 

fickle human support instead of upon 

your divine power to save.

 

Why should we doubt your love for us,

or your power to rescue us from the  

hand of the wicked or from death?

 

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 135; 145; 97; 112

Hosea 11:12-12:1

Acts 26:1-23

Luke 8:26-39

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 97:10

The LORD loves those who hate evil; 
          he guards the lives of his faithful; 
          he rescues them from the hand of the wicked.

 

Hosea 12:1

Ephraim herds the wind, and pursues the east wind all day long; they multiply falsehood and violence; they make a treaty with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt.

 

Acts 26:8

“…Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?  …”  [Paul to King Agrippa]

 

Luke 8:37a

Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear.


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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