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 Heart and Soul and Might?--June 19, 2011


What does it mean to love you with all my heart and soul and might?
It means that I become your prisoner, hemmed in behind and before,
with your hand upon me.

It means a life of humility and gentleness, of patience and forbearance,
a life lived in the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

How can I live such a life? I can hope to do so only if the Word become
flesh is pitching his tent with me, and if I receive his grace and truth.
Then, although your prisoner, I will be supremely free.


Lectionary Readings
Ps. 103; 150; 117; 139
Deut. 6:1-15
Eph. 4:1-16
John 1:1-18

Selected Verses
Ps. 139:5
You hem me in, behind and before,
      and lay your hand upon me.

Deut. 6:5
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

Eph. 4:1-3
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

John 1:14
And the Word became flesh and lived [lit. “pitched his tent”] among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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