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.


Only from You--Dec. 8, 2011


Though I am rich, you know
my affliction and my poverty.

Am I any better than those
who do not profess to follow you?

I can clean the outside of the cup,
I can clean the outside of the plate,
but inside are greed and self-indulgence.

For you alone my soul waits in silence,
my salvation comes only from you.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 18:1-20; 147:12-20; 126; 62
Amos 9:1-10
Rev. 2:8-17
Matt. 23:13-26

Selected Verses
Ps. 62:1
For God alone my soul waits in silence;
      from him comes my salvation.

Amos 9:7a
Are you not like the Ethiopians to me,
      O people of Israel? says the LORD.

Rev. 2:9a
"I know your affliction and your poverty, even though you are rich. …" [One like the Son of Man to the angel of the church in Smyrna]

Matt. 23:25
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. …" [Jesus]
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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