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.

Grant Me a Blessing--Jan. 2, 2011

O God Most High, before he died, Moses asked your blessing
upon your people. Before I die, I ask your blessing on me.

Grant that I may be glad and exult in you, knowing that
the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride
in riches all come from the world and not from you.

Above all, take from me my habit of complaining—
how can a complainer sing praise to your name?

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 48, 150, 9, 29
Deut. 33:1-5
1 John 2:12-17
John 6:41-47

Selected Verses
Ps. 9:2
I will be glad and exult in you;
      I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

Deut. 33:1
This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the Israelites before his death.

1 John 2:16
…for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches— comes not from the Father but from the world.

John 6:43
Jesus answered [those who complained about what he had said], “Do not complain among yourselves. … ”
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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