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.

An Undivided Life--Jan. 22, 2019

[From Jan. 18, 2011 archive]

O God, you have brought up my soul from Sheol,
restored my life from among those who were lost.

A house divided against itself cannot stand;
it makes no sense to cut a piece of wood in half
and use one part for cooking, the other for an idol;
nor is it right to continue living as my old self
after I have clothed myself with the new.

Help me remember, then, who I am, and whose,
that I may live my life according to your likeness.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 123; 146; 30; 86
Isa. 44:9-20
Eph. 4:17-32
Mark 3:19b-35

Selected Verses
Ps. 30:3
O LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol,
            restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.

Isa. 44:16-17
Half of [the wood] [the artisan] burns in the fire; over this half he roasts meat, eats it and is satisfied.  He also warms himself and says, “Ah, I am warm, I can feel the fire!”  The rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, bows down to it and worships it; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god!”

Eph. 4:22-24
You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Mark 3:25
“…And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.  …”  [Jesus in his reply to the scribes who accused him of having Beelzebul]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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