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.

March 02, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 32, 42, 84
Genesis 48:8-22
Romans 8:11-25
John 6:27-40

II. Selections
Psalm 42:2
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the face of God?

Genesis 48:11
Israel said to Joseph, "I did not expect to see your face; and here God has let me see your children also."

Romans 8:25
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

John 6:35
Jesus said to [ the crowd that had followed him], "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."

III. Meditation: Thirsty to see your face

We do not see, and we wait with hope and patience ...
for a time.

Our soul begins to thirst; when shall we behold you ...
perhaps never?

Like a father who never expects to see his son again,
we stop hoping.

But if we come to you, the bread of life, if we pledge
our life to you,

then we need never be hungry, need never be thirsty,
not ever again.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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