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.

Deliver Our Soul from Death--Jan. 30, 2014


 Lord Jesus, if you can do nothing on your own,
how much less can we by our own efforts?
Left to ourselves we are reminded of
our sin, day after day, year after year,
no matter how we try to walk before you
and be blameless.  Deliver our soul from death,
our eyes from tears, and our feet from stumbling.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 143; 147:12-20; 81; 116
Gen. 16:15-17:14
Heb. 10:1-10
John 5:30-47

Selected Verses

Ps. 116:8
For you have delivered my soul from death,
          my eyes from tears,
          my feet from stumbling.

Gen. 17:1
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.  …"

Heb. 10:3
But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year.

John 5:30
"I can do nothing on my own.  As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.  …"  [Jesus to the Jewish authorities]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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