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.

Our Ears Begin to Itch--Feb. 27, 2011


There is a strange pattern we follow.
We see your awesome deeds.

We are so impressed we could
join Mary anointing your feet.

Time passes, and we forget…
let your deeds slip from our minds.

Before long our ears begin to itch;
we seek out more congenial teachings.

O God, forgive; teach us to watch ourselves
more closely, lest we forget your awesome deeds.


Lectionary Readings
Ps. 108; 150; 66; 23
Deut. 4:1-9
2 Tim. 4:1-8
John 12:1-8

Selected Verses
Ps. 66:5
Come and see what God has done:
      he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.

Deut. 4:9
But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children.

2 Tim. 4:3
For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires…

John 12:3
Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

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