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 God Wants--Oct. 7, 2018


What you want from us, gracious God,
is steadfast love, not pious ritual.
Christ does not want us to speculate
about him, but to know him.
We cannot conceive what the Spirit
has in store; we must live it.
Search me, God, and know my heart;
try me, and know my thoughts;
take away all that is wicked in me;
lead me always in your way.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 103; 150; 117; 139
Hosea 5:8-6:6
1 Cor. 2:6-16
Matt. 14:1-12

Selected Verses
Ps. 139:23-24
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
          test me and know my thoughts.
See if there is any wicked way in me,
          and lead me in the way everlasting.

Hosea 6:6
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
          the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

1 Cor. 2:9-10
But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him"--these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 

Matt. 14:1-12
At that time Herod the ruler heard reports about Jesus; and he said to his servants, "This is John the Baptist; he has been raised from the dead, and for this reason these powers are at work in him." 

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