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.

Though We Are not Perfect--Apr. 23, 2016


O God Most High, it is good to give you thanks
and to sing your praises, to declare your steadfast
love in the morning and your faithfulness by night.
Jesus called us to be perfect, even as you are perfect.
We are not perfect, will not be perfect, but we know
how we ought to live and how to please you.
Pray help us do this more and more,
until we have finished the work
you have given us to do.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 92; 149; 23; 114
Exod. 40:18-38
1 Thess. 4:1-12
Matt. 5:38-48

Selected Verses
Ps. 92:1-2
It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
          to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
          and your faithfulness by night…

Exod. 40:33
[Moses] set up the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and put up the screen at the gate of the court.  So Moses finished the work.

1 Thess. 4:1
Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more. 

Matt. 5:48
“…Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.  …”  [Jesus to the crowds on the mountain]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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