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.

February 16, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 27, 36, 80
Genesis 32:3-21
1 John 2:18-29
John 10:19-30

II. Selections
Psalm 36:7-8
How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.

Genesis 32:20b
For [ Jacob] thought, "I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterwards I shall see his face; perhaps he will accept me."

1 John 2:21
I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and you know that no lie comes from the truth.

John 10:20
Many of them were saying, "He has a demon and is out of his mind. Why listen to him?"

III. Meditation: Finding acceptance
Jacob plied Esau with gifts,
hoping to appease him
and gain his acceptance.
But there is no need to buy your acceptance.

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.

When Jesus told about your love,
He was jeered and rejected-
A demon, out of his mind,
Ignore him.

Yet he told the truth
and was the truth,
and no lie came from him.
He is the way to your acceptance.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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