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.

Four Questions for God, and Five--Aug. 4, 2016

[From Aug. 9, 2012 archive]

What is the source of your power?
Where did you get to know us?
What shall we return to you
for all your bounty to us?
You have delivered us,
will you rule over us?

If we ask the last question
and mean what we say,
will you not supply
all the answers
we need?

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 116; 147:12-20; 26; 130
Judg. 8:22-35
Acts 4:1-12
John 1:43-51

Selected Verses
Ps. 116:12
What shall I return to the LORD
          for all his bounty to me?

Judg. 8:22
Then the Israelites said to Gideon, "Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also; for you have delivered us out of the hand of Midian."

Acts 4:7
When [the high priest and all his surrogates] had made the prisoners [Peter and John] stand in their midst, they inquired, "By what power or by what name did you do this?"

John 1:48a
Nathanael asked [Jesus], "Where did you get to know me?"

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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