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.

Our Expectations, and Yours--April 9, 2013


Earthly rulers may demand too much of their people,
and we may expect too much from them.

Jesus, you have told us what you expect from us:
you have sent us into the world, where we
must love our sisters and brothers.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 98; 146; 66; 116
Dan. 2:1-16
1 John 2:1-11
John 17:12-19

Selected Verses

Ps. 146:3
Do not put your trust in princes,
          in mortals, in whom there is no help.

Dan. 2:10a
The Chaldeans answered the king, “There is no one on earth who can reveal what the king demands!  …"

1 John 2:10
Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling.

John 17:18
"…As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.  …"  [Jesus in prayer while with his disciples]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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