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.

When to Save Our Lives, We Call on You--Feb. 2, 2017


When we call on you, Lord Jesus, to save our lives,
you say we must lose our lives to save them.
The way we lose our lives is through serving others
in love, becoming slaves to one another.
Meanwhile, your steadfast love does not leave us,
though the mountains depart, and the hills.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 116; 147:12-20; 26; 130
Isa. 54:1-17
Gal. 5:1-15
Mark 8:27-9:1

Selected Verses
Ps. 116:4
 Then I called on the name of the LORD:
          “O LORD, I pray, save my life!”

Isa. 54:10
For the mountains may depart
          and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
          and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,
          says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

Gal. 5:13
For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.

Mark 8:35
"…For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.  …"  [Jesus to his disciples and the crowd]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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