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.

By the Work of Your Hand--Feb. 16, 2011


By the work of your hand
you molded us from clay,
put gladness into our heart.

You chose a cornerstone,
and it was amazing in our eyes
(though the builders rejected it).

On the cornerstone you
established your church,
pillar and bulwark of truth.


Lectionary Readings
Ps. 15; 147:1-11; 48; 4
Isa. 63:15-64:9
1 Tim. 3:1-16
Mark 11:27-12:12

Selected Verses
Ps. 4:7
You have put gladness in my heart
      more than when their grain and wine abound.

Isa. 64:8
Yet, O LORD, you are our Father;
      we are the clay, and you are our potter;
      we are all the work of your hand.

1 Tim. 3:15
…if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth.

Mark 12:10
“…Have you not read this scripture:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
      has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
      and it is amazing in our eyes’?”
[Jesus in the temple, to the chief priests, scribes, and elders]
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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