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.

In Our Hands, No Rod of Gold--Nov. 17, 2021

[From Nov. 16, 2005 archive]

 

Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, 

which cannot be moved, but abides for ever. 

 

It does not follow that our trust 

leads us to religious insights 

that cannot be moved or 

that should abide for ever.  

 

Your angels may measure 

with a measuring rod of gold, 

but our hands hold no such instrument, 

nor can we be certain that accurately 

we have heard the voice of angels.  

 

The priest Ezra made his people swear 

to send away all foreign wives.  

Could it have been your will so

cruelly to dissolve these marriages?  

 

Human hands killed Jesus, 

and the perpetrators believed 

they were on a righteous mission.  

 

Remind us that our theology is fallible—

which is why our ultimate trust must be in you, 

not in our own ability to measure.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 65; 147:1-11; 125; 91

Ezra 10:1-17

Rev. 21:9-21

Matt. 17:22-27

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 125:1

Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,

          which cannot be moved, but abides for ever. 


Ezra 10:5

Then Ezra stood up and made the leading priests, the Levites, and all Israel swear that they would do as had been said. So they swore. 


Rev. 21:15

The angel who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 


Matt. 17:22-23

As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.” And they were greatly distressed. 


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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