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 Matters Much, What Matters Most--Feb. 1, 2014


 God, your steadfast
love is better than life.

To have your love is more
important than any possession.

The food that endures for eternal life
is of more value than food that perishes.

Our lips will praise you; is anything
too wonderful for you to do?

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 122; 149; 100; 63
Gen. 18:1-16
Heb. 10:26-39
John 6:16-27

Selected Verses

Ps. 63:3
Because your steadfast love is better than life,
          my lips will praise you.

Gen. 18:14a
"…Is anything too wonderful for the LORD?  …"  [The LORD to Abraham]

Heb. 10:34
For you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting.

John 6:27a
"…Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.  …"  [Jesus to the crowd that had followed him across the sea]


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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