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.


Where We Do Not Wish To Go--May 8, 2011


O gracious God:
You are the one who is good,
whose steadfast love endures forever.

You are the one whom we must glorify
through our words and through our works;
glory and power belong to you forever and ever.

As for us, when the time comes our tree
will be cut down and its branches
cut off and its fruit scattered.

And we will be taken where we do not
wish to go; but none of this will matter,
for your steadfast love will abide with us.


Lectionary Readings
Ps. 93; 150; 136; 117
Dan. 4:1-18
1 Pet. 4:7-11
John 21:15-25

Selected Verses
Ps. 136:1
O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
      for his steadfast love endures forever.

Dan. 4:14a
“…[A holy watcher] cried aloud and said:
      ‘Cut down the tree and chop off its branches,
            strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit. …’ …”
[Nebuchadnezzar recites his dream.]

1 Pet. 4:11
Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

John 21:18
“…Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” [The Risen Christ to Peter]
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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