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.

May Your Grace Not Be in Vain--April 21, 2014


All are in this life together--
we eat what everyone must eat;
by your grace we are what we are.
When fear seizes us, and we flee from
the very thing you want us to do,
may your light dawn in our
darkness--may your grace
for us not be in vain.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 97; 145; 124; 115
Exod. 12:14-27
1 Cor. 15:1-11
Mark 16:1-8

Selected Verses
Ps. 97:11
Light dawns for the righteous,
          and joy for the upright in heart. 

Exod. 12:16c
…only what everyone must eat, that alone may be prepared by you. 

1 Cor. 15:10a
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain.

Mark 16:8
So [Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome] went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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