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.

To Set Aside Every Weight and Sin--Jan. 5, 2017


You send out your Word; it melts our cold hearts;
your Holy Wind blows, and the ice disappears.

Jesus our Lord, pray let us abide in your love,
setting aside every weight, with the sin that
clings so closely. Then we will proceed--
crossing over to your promised land--
to run with perseverance the race
that you have set before us.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 99; 147:12-20; 96; 110
Josh. 1:1-9
Heb. 11:32-12:2
John 15:1-16

Selected Verses
Ps. 147:18
[The LORD] sends out his word, and melts them;
          he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow. 

Josh. 1:2
"My servant Moses is dead.  Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites.  "  [The LORD to Joshua]

Heb. 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us…

John 15:9
"…As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.  …"  [Jesus to his disciples]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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