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.

To Know Goodness, and to Do Good--Feb. 11, 2014


[from Feb. 7, 2012 archive]

It is good to know that you command
your steadfast love by day

and that your song is with us by night
and that you do not condemn us.

Having received so much from your goodness,
make us complete in everything good to do your will.

Others have made room for us; without quarreling
may we share with immigrants the goodness of the land.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 42; 146; 102; 133
Gen. 26:1-6, 12-33
Heb. 13:17-25
John 7:53-8:11

Selected Verses

Ps. 42:8
By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,
          and at night his song is with me,
          a prayer to the God of my life.

Gen. 26:22
[Isaac] moved from there and dug another well, and [the Philistines] did not quarrel over it; so he called it Rehoboth, saying, "Now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land."

Heb. 13:20-21a
Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, make you complete in everything good so that you may do his will…

John 8:10-11
Jesus straightened up and said to [the woman caught in adultery], "Woman, where are they?  Has no one condemned you?"  She said, "No one, sir."  And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you.  Go your way, and from now on do not sin again."


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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