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.

April 03, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 25, 34, 91
Jeremiah 15:10-21
Philippians 3:15-21
John 12:20-26

II. Selections
Psalm 34:14
Depart from evil, and do good;
seek peace, and pursue it.

Jeremiah 15:19a-b
Therefore thus says the LORD:
If you turn back, I will take you back,
and you shall stand before me.
If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,
you shall serve as my mouth.

Philippians 3:21
[ The Lord Jesus Christ] will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.

John 12:24
" ...Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ... "

III. Meditation: Turn us

Turn us from evil to do good;
to seek peace, and to pursue it.

Turn us back, and take us back,
that we may stand before you.

Turn the words we speak for you
from worthless into precious.

Transform our weak mortal bodies
to conform to your glorious body.

Dying to our old ways,
turn us into fruit bearers.

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