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.

Charged and Found Guilty--March 25, 2011


We have been charged, have been found guilty.
Your eyes look for truth, and you do not find it.
We try so hard to obtain glory by pleasing others
that we forget to please you, and only you matter.

We are under the power of sin; its power is great.
Yet on you we have been cast from our birth, and
since our mothers bore us you have been our God.
We have turned from you, but do not turn from us.


Lectionary Readings
Ps. 22; 148; 105; 130
Jer. 5:1-9
Rom. 2:25-3:18
John 5:30-47

Selected Verses
Ps. 22:10
On you I was cast from my birth,
      and since my mother bore me you have been my God.

Jer. 5:3a
O LORD, do your eyes not look for truth?

Rom. 3:9
What then? Are we any better off? No, not at all; for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin…

John 5:44
“…How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? …” [Jesus to those seeking to kill him]
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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