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.

Lest We Lose Heart--March 24, 2018


[From March 27, 2010 archive]

O Holy One, our times are in your hand.
You call us away from our blindness;
we throw off our coats, spring up,
and come running to you.

Deliver us from the hot anger that divides us.
Our outer nature wastes away; day-by-day
renew our inner nature, lest we lose heart,
for our times are in your hand.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 43, 149, 31, 143
Exod. 10:21-11:8
2 Cor. 4:13-18
Mark 10:46-52

Selected Verses
Ps. 31:15
My times are in your hand;
            deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.

Exod. 11:8b
And in hot anger [Moses] left Pharaoh.

2 Cor. 4:16
So we do not lose heart.  Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.

Mark 10:49b-50
And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, [Jesus] is calling you.”  So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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