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.

Who Sinned--Noah or His Son?--Jan. 20, 2016


You, who give the Spirit without measure,
gave your Son and placed all things in his hands.
He taught us to abhor wickedness, but not the wicked.

We confess, O God, that we are like Noah--
guilty ourselves, we despise and curse, we even
threaten and punish, others for their sins.  Forgive us.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 15; 147:1-11; 48; 4
Gen. 9:18-29
Heb. 6:1-12
John 3:22-36

Selected Verses
Ps. 15:4
…in whose eyes the wicked are despised,
          but who honor those who fear the LORD… 

Gen. 9:24-25
When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said,
"Cursed be Canaan;
            lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers."

Heb. 6:7-8
Ground that drinks up the rain falling on it repeatedly, and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.  But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and on the verge of being cursed; its end is to be burned over. 

John 3:34-35
He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.  The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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