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.

What Defiles Us--Nov.11, 2013


 You are God, are God alone--maker of heaven and earth
and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them.

Yet you fulfill the desire of all who fear you;
you hear their cry and you save them.

Lord, make us beware of what we say in our heart
and take care what comes out of our mouth.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 135; 145; 97; 112
Neh. 9:1-25
Rev. 18:1-8
Matt. 15:1-20

Selected Verses

Ps. 145:19
The LORD fulfills the desire of all who fear him;
          he also hears their cry, and saves them.

Neh. 9:6a
And Ezra said: “You are the LORD, you alone; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. …"

Rev. 18:7b
 "Since in her heart [Babylon the great] says,
          ‘I rule as a queen;
I am no widow,
          and I will never see grief'…"
[An angel of great authority]

Matt. 15:18
"… But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles.  …"  [Jesus to the crowd]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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