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.


Life to the Fullest--May 29, 2011


Your decrees are sure, your commands are clear:
We are to receive your good creation with thanks
and open our hand to our poor and needy neighbor.

Your kingdom starts in our hearts
like a tiny bit of yeast; if we let it,
it will leaven our lives to the fullest.


Lectionary Readings
Ps. 93; 150; 136; 117
Deut. 15:1-11
1 Tim. 3:14-4:5
Matt. 13:24-34a

Selected Verses
Ps. 93:5
Your decrees are very sure;
      holiness befits your house,
      O LORD, forevermore.

Deut. 15:11
Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, “Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.”

1 Tim. 4:4-5
For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by God’s word and by prayer.

Matt. 13:33
[Jesus] told [his disciples] another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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