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 Do We Worship You, Jesus?--Sept. 2, 2017


Lord Jesus, how do we worship you?
With high praises in our throats
and two-edged swords in our hands?
By sacrificing animals to you?
By deserting you in time of danger?
Or clinging to you as our hope,
even if it be while bound in chains?

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 122; 149; 100; 63
1 Kings 7:51-8:21
Acts 28:17-31
Mark 14:43-52

Selected Verses
Ps. 149:6
Let the high praises of God be in their throats
          and two-edged swords in their hands…

1 Kings 8:5
King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.

Acts 28:20
"…For this reason therefore I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is for the sake of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain."  [Paul to the leaders of the Jews in Rome]

Mark 14:50
All of [his disciples] deserted [Jesus] and fled. 

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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