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.

To Take Less than Our Share--Jan. 25, 2016


Gracious God, merciful toward our iniquities
and remembering our sin no more,
you open your hand and satisfy the desire
of every living thing.

Teach us to take no more than, to take
 even less than, our share.
Then, your word ringing in our ears,
 may we start on our way.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 57; 145; 85; 47
Gen. 14:1-24
Heb. 8:1-13
John 4:43-54

Selected Verses
Ps. 145:16
You open your hand,
          satisfying the desire of every living thing. 

Gen. 14:24
"…I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me--Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre.  Let them take their share."

Heb. 8:12
"…For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
            and I will remember their sins no more."

John 4:50
Jesus said to [the royal official], "Go; your son will live."  The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. 
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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