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.

Your Mercy, Our Judging--Nov. 17, 2012


You know our hearts--
how we justify ourselves in
the sight of others, how we  prize
what is an abomination in your sight.

You know our hearts--
how we dwell in the valley
of decision, full of judgment for
all who are pushed hard and falling.

You know our hearts--
wanting in mercy ourselves,
yet wanting you to show us mercy.
May your mercy triumph over judging.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 56; 149; 118; 111

Joel 3:9-17
James 2:1-13
Luke 16:10-18

Selected Verses

Ps. 118:13

 I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,
          but the LORD helped me.

Joel 3:14b
For the day of the LORD is near
            in the valley of decision.

James 2:13
For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

Luke 16:15
So [Jesus] said to [the Pharisees who had ridiculed him], "You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God.  …"

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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