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.

One Thing We Ask of You--Jan. 8, 2014


 [Adapted from January 8, 2008 archive]

Forgive us when we quarrel and try to test you;
through Christ we would be reconciled to you.
We come to him, and he gives us living water.

And we learn that one thing is most important:
to seek after you, and all the days of our life
to live in your presence, to behold your beauty,
to inquire from you what is your will for us.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 46; 147:1-11; 27; 93
Exodus 17:1-7
Colossians 1:15-23
John 7:37-52

Selected Verses

Psalm 27:4
One thing I asked of the LORD,
            that will I seek after:
to live in the house of the LORD
            all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the LORD,
            and to inquire in his temple.

Exodus 17:2
The people quarreled with Moses, and said, "Give us water to drink."  Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me?  Why do you test the LORD?"

Colossians 1:20a
…and through [Christ] God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things…

John 6:37-38
On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.  As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" [Jesus to the crowd]

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