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.

A Question I Cannot Answer--May 26, 2021

 

Who may abide with you, O God?

Those who with all their heart 

and soul search for you?

 

Those who find joy

in giving joy to others?

 

 Or the ones who celebrate

when lost souls return to you?

 

The psalmist’s question is good,

but the decision is up to you, God. 

My role is to love you and neighbor.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 15; 147:1-11; 48; 4

Deut. 4:25-31

2 Cor. 1:23-2:11

Luke 15:1-2, 11-32

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 15:1

O LORD, who may abide in your tent?
          Who may dwell on your holy hill?

 

Deut. 4:29

From [distant lands] you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and soul. 

 

2 Cor. 2:3

And I wrote as I did, so that when I came, I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice; for I am confident about all of you, that my joy would be the joy of all of you. 

 

Luke 15:23-24

“‘…And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’  And they began to celebrate.  …”  [Jesus, quoting the father in the parable of the prodigal son, which Jesus addressed to his self-righteous critics.]


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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