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.

May 07, 2010


Good Things to Those Who Ask

I. Readings
Psalms 96, 148, 49, 138
Leviticus 23:1-22
2 Thessalonians 2:1-17
Matthew 7:1-12

II. Selections
Psalm 49:7
Truly, no ransom avails for one’s life,
there is no price one can give to God for it.

Leviticus 23:19
You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of well-being.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.

Matthew 7:11
“…If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him! … ” [Jesus to the crowds on the mountain]

III. Meditation

More than any loving parent,
you know how to give good gifts
to your children who ask you for them.

There is no price we can pay, no ransom
we can put forward, no offering we can make
as a sacrifice for our sin or to secure our well-being.

But we only need to ask, for you have made the payment.
In your love and your grace, give us eternal comfort and hope;
comfort our hearts; strengthen them in every good work and word.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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