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.

If We Could Behold, and See--Nov. 18, 2012


 If we were to behold, and see,
what you are doing would astound us--
works we would not believe if we were told.

If we were to behold, and see,
we would know we are straining out
the gnat while we are swallowing the camel.

Help us behold and see, dear God,
so that forgetting what lies behind, we may
practice justice, mercy, and faith--as we press on
to follow the prize of your heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 67; 150; 46; 93

Hab. 1:1-2:1
Phil. 3:13-4:1
Matt. 23:13-24

Selected Verses

Ps. 46:8a

 Come, behold the works of the LORD…

Hab. 1:5
Look at the nations, and see!
            Be astonished! Be astounded!
For a work is being done in your days
            that you would not believe if you were told.
                        [The LORD speaking to the prophet]

Phil. 3:13-14
Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Matt. 23:23-24
"…Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.  It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.  You blind guides!  You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!  …"  [Jesus to the scribes and Pharisees]


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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