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.


Like the Smoke of a Furnace--Jan. 30, 2012



We stand and watch the smoke of the land
go up like the smoke of a furnace,
and with a shock we realize
we are only human.

And we understand:
we must not work for food
that perishes, but for living bread,
for your food that endures for eternal life.

God, we pray for the assurance of things
hoped for and the conviction
of things not seen.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 62; 145; 73; 9
Gen. 19:1-29
Heb. 11:1-12
John 6:27-40

Selected Verses
Ps. 9:20
Put them in fear, O LORD;
      let the nations know that they are only human.             Selah

Gen. 19:28
…and [Abraham] looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the Plain and saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace.

Heb. 11:1
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

John 6:27a
"Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. …" [Jesus to the crowd that followed him]
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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