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.

The Fountain of Life--Jan. 21, 2016


Lord Jesus, with you is the fountain of life,
the spring of water gushing up to eternal life.
With our hope in you we enter the inner shrine
behind the curtain,
where in your light, we see light.
(And we see how foolish we have
been to draw attention to ourselves
by trying to build something big.)

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 36; 147:12-20; 80; 27
Gen. 11:1-9
Heb. 6:13-20
John 4:1-15

Selected Verses
Ps. 36:9
For with you is the fountain of life;
          in your light we see light.

Gen. 11:4
Then [the people] said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."

Heb. 6:19-20
We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

John 4:14
"…but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.  The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life."  [Jesus to the Samaritan woman]

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