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.

Your Word Did not Return to You Empty--Feb. 6, 2015


Your Word, O God, did not return to you empty
but accomplished that which you purposed.

Though he went through many sufferings,
though he was treated with contempt,
he was led by your Spirit, and he
trusted in you and succeeded
in the thing for which
you sent him.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 84; 148; 25; 40
Isa. 55:1-13
Gal. 5:16-24
Mark 9:2-13

Selected Verses
Ps. 84:12
 O LORD of hosts,
          happy is everyone who trusts in you.

Isa. 55:11
…so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
          it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
          and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Gal. 5:18
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. 

Mark 9:12b
[Jesus] said to [Peter, James, and John], “Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things.  How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt?  …" 
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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