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.

Restore to Us the Joy of Your Salvation--Jan. 12, 2018


How may we find favor with you, Jesus?
Is it by exhorting one another not to be
hardened by the deceitfulness of sin?
Will that help us do whatever you tell us;
will it save us from our unbelieving hearts?
However it happens, pray restore to us the joy
of your salvation, and sustain in us a willing spirit.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 51; 148; 142; 65
Gen. 6:1-8
Heb. 3:12-19
John 2:1-12

Selected Verses
Ps. 51:12
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
          and sustain in me a willing spirit.

Gen. 6:8
But Noah found favor in the sight of the LORD.

Heb. 3:12-13
Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.  But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

John 2:5
[Jesus'] mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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