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.

Our Work and God's Work--Feb. 22, 2018


[From Feb. 25, 2010 archive]

Lord, some bear the seed for sowing,
some come home carrying the sheaves.

You have given each of us each work to do, and
each of us must trust others to complete the work.

Sometimes it is ours to lay the foundation,
sometimes to complete what others started;

but the task goes well only if we do it
according to the grace you have given us.

Like Joseph, Paul, or the four who carried the paralytic—
we need you, O God, to prosper and complete the work.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 27; 147:12-20; 126; 102
Gen. 39:1-23
1 Cor. 2:14-3:15
Mark 2:1-12

Selected Verses
Ps. 126:6
Those who go out weeping,
            bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy
            carrying their sheaves.

Gen. 39:23
The chief jailer paid no heed to anything that was in Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper.

1 Cor. 3:10a
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it.

Mark 2:3
Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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