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, in Our Lives, to Do Well--Jan. 24, 2016


Lord Jesus, people were amazed at you--
they said that you did everything well.
Teach us, we pray, how to do well
in our lives--how to live without
strife, not just between kindred
but with everyone, and how
to remember the poor, and
how to make wars cease.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 67; 150; 46; 93
Gen. 13:2-18
Gal. 2:1-10
Mark 7:31-37

Selected Verses
Ps. 46:9
[The LORD] makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
          he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
          he burns the shields with fire. 

Gen. 13:8
Then Abram said to Lot, "Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herders and my herders; for we are kindred.  …"

Gal. 2:10
[James, Cephas, and John] asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do.

Mark 7:37
[People in the crowd] were astounded beyond measure, saying, "[Jesus] has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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