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.

Not from Deceit or Trickery--Nov. 30, 2010


Let your steadfast love, O God, be upon us,
even as we hope in you. We pray our appeal

springs not from deceit or trickery, nor to please
others; but if you have approved us to be entrusted

with the message of the gospel, help us speak
from the heart, to please you who test our heart.

Forbid that your faithful should become a whore,
turning away from you our Lover. When the season

comes to share the produce of your vineyard, may we
your tenants withhold nothing of what belongs to you.

Lectionary Readings
Psalms 33, 146, 85, 94
Isaiah 1:21-31
1 Thessalonians 2:1-12
Luke 20:9-18

Selected Verses
Psalm 33:22
Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,
      even as we hope in you.

Isaiah1:21a
How the faithful city
      has become a whore!

1 Thessalonians 2:3-4
For our appeal does not spring from deceit or trickery, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts.

Luke 20:10
“…When the season came, [the owner] sent a slave to the tenants in order that they might give him his share of the produce of the vineyard; but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. … ” [Jesus to the people]



Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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