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 02, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 25, 40, 84
Isaiah 55:1-13
Galatians 5:16-24
Mark 9:2-13

II. Selections
Psalm 84:12
O LORD of hosts,
happy is everyone who trusts in you.

Isaiah 55:9
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Galatians 5:16
Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Mark 9:2
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them ...

III. Meditation: To trust your ways

As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so your ways are higher than our ways,
and your thoughts than our thoughts.
Happy is everyone who trusts in you.

Jesus took three of his closest with him
up the mountain to a lonesome place.
The three saw him transfigured,
changed but yet himself.

We do not ask to be transfigured,
but we do ask to be changed-
free to live by the Spirit
and to trust in you.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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