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.

A Prayer for Our Children--March 5, 2016


O faithful God, you have redeemed us;
into your hands we commit our spirit.

As when our parents are dying, we bring to them
our children and ask them for a blessing,
so we come before you now to ask--
God, bless our children.

Bless and protect them,
so that in their hearts they may desire no evil,
and that they may commit their lives to you.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 43; 149; 31; 143
Gen. 47:27-48:7
1 Cor. 10:1-13
Mark 7:1-23

Selected Verses
Ps. 31:5
 Into your hand I commit my spirit;
          you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.

Gen. 48:1
After this Joseph was told, "Your father is ill." So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

1 Cor. 10:6
Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did.

Mark 7:21-22
For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 

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