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.

The Way We Should Choose--Feb. 4, 2011

O thou who dost teach us the way we should choose—
lest we spend our money for that which is not bread
and our labor for that which does not satisfy—
grant that we may choose to live by thy Spirit
and listen to thy Son the Beloved,
in whose name we pray.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 84; 148; 25; 40
Isa. 55:1-13
Gal. 5: 16-24
Mark 9:2-13

Selected Verses
Ps. 25:12
Who are they that fear the LORD?
      He will teach them the way that they should choose.

Isa. 55:2a
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
      and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

Gal. 5:16
Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Mark 9:7
Then a cloud overshadowed [Peter, James, and John], and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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