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.

How to Share in Your Holiness?--May 18, 2014


Holy God, how can we share in your holiness?
Jesus shared it--you anointed him to bring good news
to the poor, proclaim release to the captives and recovery
of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim the year of your favor.

Should the anointing oil be poured on
our head in consecration to pursue holiness,
caring for those whom Jesus cared for--the poor,
the captives, the blind, and the oppressed--as
we also proclaim the year of your favor?

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 93; 150; 136; 117
Lev. 8:1-13, 30-36
Heb. 12:1-14
Luke 4:16-30

Selected Verses
Ps. 93:5
Your decrees are very sure;
          holiness befits your house,
          O LORD, forevermore.

Lev. 8:12
[Moses] poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him, to consecrate him. 

Heb. 12:14
Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Luke 4:18-19
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  [Jesus reading from Isaiah in his hometown synagogue]
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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