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 Matter of the Heart--June 17, 2016


Create in me a clean heart, O God;
put a new and right spirit within me.
Give me a heart that sees opportunity
in situations fraught with difficulties;
a heart grateful for your mercy,
ready to show mercy to others;
a heart filled with your Spirit.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 51; 148; 142; 65
Num. 13:1-3, 21-30
Rom. 2:25-3:8
Matt. 18:21-35
       
Selected Verses
Ps. 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
          and put a new and right spirit within me. 

Num. 13:30
But Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and occupy [the land that Moses had sent them to spy out], for we are well able to overcome it."

Rom. 2:29
Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart--it is spiritual and not literal.  Such a person receives praise not from others but from God.

Matt. 18:33
"…'Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?' …"  [In Jesus' parable, the master to the slave he had forgiven]
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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