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 21, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 5, 27, 51
Jonah 3:1-4:11
Hebrews 12:1-14
Luke 18:9-14

II. Selections
Psalm 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.

Jonah 3:8
" ...Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. ... " [ From the king of Nineveh's proclamation to his people]

Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us ...

Luke 18:13
" ...But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' ... " [ Jesus speaking to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt]

III. Meditation: Ash Wednesday

O God, be merciful to me, a sinner!
You have set a race before us, and a great cloud of witnesses-
a race we cannot run weighed down with sin that clings so closely.
Turn us from all evil ways and from the violence in our hands;
create in us a clean heart, and put a new and right spirit within us.
O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

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