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.

Who Deserves the Glory?--Aug. 31, 2016


Who deserves the glory, God?
Our fellow mortals, born of woman
and full of trouble, who wither, flee like
a shadow and do not last?  Do they deserve it?
No, and certainly we do not glorify ourselves.
The glory all belongs to you and to Jesus.
We worship you in holy splendor,
trembling in awe before you.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 96; 147:1-11; 132; 134
Job 12:1, 14:1-22
Acts 12:18-25
John 8:47-59
           
Selected Verses
Ps. 96:9
Worship the LORD in holy splendor;
          tremble before him, all the earth.

Job 14:1-2
"A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble, comes up like a flower and withers, flees like a shadow and does not last.  …"  [Job to God]

Acts 12:22
The people [of Tyre and Sidon, responding to Herod] kept shouting, "The voice of a god, and not of a mortal!"

John 8:54-55a
Jesus answered [his critics], "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing.  It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, 'He is our God,' though you do not know him.  …"
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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