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.

Born of the Spirit--Feb. 25, 2015


Living God,
God of abundant
love, of steadfast love,
we bow in awe before you.
Yet even as we bow we confess
we have been quick to turn away from
you and from the way you have commanded.
May we be born from above, born of the Spirit,
that we may turn from our sin and be faithful to you.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 5; 147:1-11; 27; 51
Deut. 9:13-21
Heb. 3:12-19
John 2:23-3:15

Selected Verses
Ps. 5:1
But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
          will enter your house,
I will bow down toward your holy temple
          in awe of you. 

Deut. 9:16
Then I saw that you had indeed sinned against the LORD your God, by casting for yourselves an image of a calf; you had been quick to turn from the way that the LORD had commanded you.  [Moses to the Israelites]

Heb. 3:12
Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 

John 3:7-8
"…Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’  The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.  So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” [Jesus to Nicodemus]

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