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 Conviction of Things Not Seen--Jan. 29, 2018


Faith is the assurance of things hoped for,
Lord Jesus, the conviction of things not seen.
Sometimes, when I stand before you and look,
all that I see is smoke rising from destruction.
What I do not see, I must believe--that you
have not forsaken those who seek you;
therefore I must put my trust in you,
 you who will never drive away
anyone who comes to you.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 62; 145; 73; 9
Gen. 19:1-29
Heb. 11:1-12
John 6:27-40

Selected Verses
Ps. 9:10
 And those who know your name put their trust in you,
          for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Gen. 19:27-28
Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD; and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the Plain and saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace.

Heb. 11:1
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 

John 6:37
"…Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away…" [Jesus to the crowd who followed him]

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