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.

A Mother's Love, and God's--April 4, 2014


A mother may so love her son that
she will give him away to save his life.

But though you loved your Son, you
gave him to us, that we might have life.

And all who saw him on the cross
mocked him and made mouths at him.

If we do not listen to your Beloved
and love as you loved, we are nothing.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 22; 148; 105; 130
Exod. 2:1-22
1 Cor. 12:27-13:3
Mark 9:2-13

Selected Verses
Ps. 22:7
All who see me mock at me;
          they make mouths at me, they shake their heads…

Exod. 2:10a
When the child grew up, [his mother] brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and she took him as her son.

1 Cor. 12:2
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 

Mark 9:7
Then a cloud overshadowed [Peter, James, and John], and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!"
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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