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.

Under the Power of Sin--March 1, 2013


I am under the power of sin,
and make my face harder than rock,
and refuse to turn back to you to have life--
O God, I pray, redeem me from all my iniquities.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 22; 148; 105; 130
Jer. 5:1-9
Rom. 2:25-3:18
John 5:30-47

Selected Verses

Ps. 130:8
 It is he who will redeem Israel
          from all its iniquities.

Jer. 5:3c
They have made their faces harder than rock;
          they have refused to turn back.

Rom. 2:25-3:9
What then?  Are we any better off?  No, not at all; for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin…

John 5:40
"…Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.  …"  [Jesus to his critics]


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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