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 Free Gift of Eternal Life--July 2, 2018


Loving God,
you are near to all
who call on you in truth.
You have given us the free gift
of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We have heard of the amazing things he did;
now give us wisdom and courage to go with him,
striving always to do what you tell us to do.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 57; 145; 85; 47
Num. 22:1-21
Rom. 6:12-23
Matt. 21:12-22

Selected Verses
Ps. 145:18
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
          to all who call on him in truth. 

Num. 22:20-21
That night God came to Balaam and said to him, "If the men have come to summon you, get up and go with them; but do only what I tell you to do."  So Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the officials of Moab.

Rom. 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Matt. 21:15
But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that [Jesus] did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they became angry…

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