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.

Return with a Whole Heart to God--March 15, 2017


When your kindness has led us to repentance,
may it be a real turning away from sin--
no pretense, but a return to you
with our whole hearts. 
When you heal us,
create in us a clean heart
and put a new and right spirit within us.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 5; 147:1-11; 27; 51
Jer. 3:6-18
Rom. 1:26-2:11
John 5:1-18

Selected Verses
Ps. 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
          and put a new and right spirit within me. 

Jer. 3:10
Yet for all this her false sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense, says the LORD.

Rom. 2:4
Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience?  Do you not realize that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 

John 5:14
Later Jesus found [the man who had been ill 38 years] in the temple and said to him, "See, you have been made well!  Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you." 

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