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.

God, Write in Our Hearts--June 6, 2014


Loving God, when we worship you in holy splendor
we tremble before you--tremble more in awe
than in fear, for though we are sinners,
you called us to be your people.

Write in our hearts the rule of love
and mercy, for Christ loved us and gave
himself up, a fragrant offering and sacrifice.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 96; 148; 49; 138
Jer. 31:27-34
Eph. 5:1-32
Matt. 9:9-17

Selected Verses
Ps. 96:9
Worship the LORD in holy splendor;
          tremble before him, all the earth.

Jer. 31:33
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Eph. 5:2
…and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Matt. 9:13
"…Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'  For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."  [Jesus to the Pharisees]
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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