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.

Restore to Us--Jan. 14, 2011

Are we such old wineskins that
we cannot contain your new wine?
Restore to us the joy of your salvation,
sustain in us a willing spirit—willing to be

led by a road that we do not know, by paths
we have not walked. Work your power
within us, that by your gift of grace
we may become your servants.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 51; 148; 142; 65
Isa. 42:1-17
Eph. 3:1-13
Mark 2:13-22

Selected Verses
Ps. 51:12
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
      and sustain in me a willing spirit.

Isa. 42:16a-b
I will lead the blind by a road they do not know,
      by paths they have not known I will guide them.

Eph. 3:7
Of this gospel I have become a servant according to the gift of God’s grace that was given me by the working of his power.

Mark 2:22
“…And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” [Jesus to people who had asked him about fasting]
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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