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.

What You Have Made Clean--Aug. 29, 2018


God of our Salvation,
even the brothers of Jesus
did not treat him with kindness.
When we reject him, we reject you;
we blame you for our suffering
and even reject ourselves.

You gave us Jesus, to release
us from our sin, and what you have
made clean, we must not call profane.
 You are the hope of all the earth
and of the farthest seas.
Answer us with your
deliverance.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 65; 147:1-11; 125; 91
Job 6:1, 7:1-21
Acts 10:1-16
John 7:1-13

Selected Verses
Ps. 65:5
By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
          O God of our salvation;
you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
          and of the farthest seas. 

Job 7:20
If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of humanity?  Why have you made me your target?  Why have I become a burden to you?  …"  [Job to God]

Acts 10:15
The voice said to [Peter] again, a second time, "What God has made clean, you must not call profane." 

John 7:5
(For not even [Jesus'] brothers believed in him.)

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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