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.

With the Heart of the Contrite--Feb. 7, 2011

High and Lofty God, you are near to all who call on you in truth.
But to call on you in truth, we cannot tout our own greatness
or boast of anything except the cross of Christ Jesus—
you dwell with the contrite and humble in spirit.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 5; 145; 82; 29
Isa. 57:14-21
Gal. 6:11-18
Mark 9:30-41

Selected Verses
Ps. 145:18
The LORD is near to all who call on him,
      to all who call on him in truth.

Isa. 57:15
For thus says the high and lofty one
      who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
I dwell in the high and holy place,
      and also with those who are contrite and humble in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble,
      and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Gal. 6:14
May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Mark 9:34
But [the disciples] were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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