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.

An Old Man’s Prayer--Apr. 8, 2015


Your steadfast love endures forever, O God—
fulfill your purpose for me.

You fed me in the wilderness;
now do not forsake the work of your hands,
but keep me from stumbling,
that I may live for the rest of my earthly life
according to your gracious will.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 96; 148; 49; 138
Exod. 16:23-36
1 Peter 3:13-4:6
John 16:1-15

Selected Verses
Ps. 138:8
The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
          your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.
          Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Exod. 16:32
Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Let an omer of [the manna] be kept throughout your generations, in order that they may see the food with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”

1 Peter 4:2
…so as to live for the rest of your earthly life no longer by human desires but by the will of God.

John 16:1
“I have said these things to you to keep you from stumbling.  …”  [Jesus to his disciples]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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