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.

We Come to You and Ask--April 18, 2013


 Lord, kings have been deposed
and stripped of their glory;
nations and peoples act
proudly, and they
are subdued.

So it is not for our own glory,
and it is not out of pride,
that in boldness we
are to come
to you.

But we come to you, and we ask;
and, when we ask according
to your will, sometimes
the catch of  fish
is amazing.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 47; 147:12-20; 68; 113
Dan. 5:13-30
1 John 5:13-21
Luke 5:1-11

Selected Verses

Ps. 47:3
[The LORD] subdued peoples under us,
          and nations under our feet.

Dan. 5:20
But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he acted proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and his glory was stripped from him.

1 John 5:14
And this is the boldness we have in [the Son of God], that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

Luke 5:9
For [Simon] and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken…

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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