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.

Let Me Find My Way--Apr. 10, 2011


O living God, let me find my way
to you, for my soul thirsts for you.

Then may I not be guilty of saying
that you said what you did not say.

And may I not be so fickle as to
proclaim the Good News while I
fail to heed my own admonitions.

May my focus be not on how to save
my life, but upon you and the gospel.


Lectionary Readings
Ps. 84; 150; 42; 32
Jer. 23:16-32
1 Cor. 9:19-27
Mark 8:31-9:1

Selected Verses
Ps. 42:2a
My soul thirsts for God,
      for the living God.

Jer. 23:31
See, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who use their own tongues and say, “Says the LORD.”

1 Cor. 9:26-27
So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.

Mark 8:35
“…For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. …” [Jesus to the crowd and his disciples]
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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