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 Plain Water of My Life--Jan. 7, 2019


[From Jan. 7, 2011 archive]

My heart says, seek your face, God; your face I do seek.  Do not hide it from me.
You know my works, and my toil, and how little I accomplish on my own.
Lord, teach me to know your name, that it is you who speak, that you are with me;
for then you can take the plain water of my life and turn it into good wine.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 46; 145; 27; 93
Isa. 52:3-6
Rev. 2:1-7
John 2:1-11

Selected Verses
Ps. 27:8-9a
"Come," my heart says, "seek his face!"
            Your face, LORD, do I seek.
            Do not hide your face from me.

Isa. 52:6
Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I.  [The LORD]

Rev. 2:2a
"I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance.  …"  [Words of one like the Son of Man, to the angel of the church in Ephesus]

John 2:9-10
When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now."

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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