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.

February 17, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 32, 42, 84
Genesis 41:14-45
Romans 6:3-14
John 5:19-24

II. Selections
Psalm 32:1
Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.

Genesis 41:20-21
The thin and ugly cows ate up the first seven fat cows, but when they had eaten them no one would have known that they had done so, for they were still as ugly as before.

Romans 6:11
So you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

John 5:21
Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.

III. Meditation: The thin and ugly

The thin and ugly cows are never satisfied.
They devour the fat and happy cows in an instant,
but they remain as thin and ugly as ever.
Forgive our transgression, O Christ, and cover our sin,
lest we also be consumed by the thin and ugly.
Make us dead to sin and alive to you;
raise us from the dead and give us new life.

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