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.

God Loved; God Gave--March 9, 2017

God of our salvation,
you loved, and you gave;
you gave us words to live by;
and when we hardened our hearts,
still you loved, and you gave;
you gave us your Son,
your Living Word.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 27; 147:12-20; 126; 102
Deut. 9:23-10:5
Heb. 4:1-10
John 3:16-21

Selected Verses
Ps. 27:9c
Do not cast me off, do not forsake me,
          O God of my salvation! 

Deut. 10:4
Then [the LORD] wrote on the tablets the same words as before, the ten commandments that the LORD had spoken to you on the mountain out of the fire on the day of the assembly; and the LORD gave them to me. 

Heb. 4:7
…again [God] sets a certain day--"today"--saying through David much later, in the words already quoted,
     "Today, if you hear his voice,
     do not harden your hearts." 

John 3:16
“…For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.  …"  [Jesus to Nicodemus]

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