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.

Thirsty for Your Living Water--March 21, 2017


God, keep my tongue from evil,
and my lips from speaking deceit.
Help me seek peace, and pursue it;
may I depart from evil, and do good.
Let me obey you and incline my ear;
walk not in my counsels, but in yours;
looking forward rather than backward.
Keep me trusting in your promises,
that I may grow strong in faith
as I give all glory to you.
And make me thirsty
 for your living
water.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 34; 146; 25; 91
Jer. 7:21-34
Rom. 4:13-25
John 7:37-52

Selected Verses
Ps. 34:13-14
Keep your tongue from evil,
          and your lips from speaking deceit. 
Depart from evil, and do good;
          seek peace, and pursue it.

Jer. 7:24
Yet [your ancestors] did not obey or incline their ear, but, in the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own counsels, and looked backward rather than forward. 

Rom. 4:20-21
No distrust made [Abraham] waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

John 7:37-38
On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.  As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'"

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