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.

God, with Power and Outstretched Arm--March 14, 2019


The appointed time came, O God,
and you sent your Son into the world,
that through him the world might be saved.
With great power and outstretched arm,
you sent him.  We hear his voice,
if our hearts are not hardened.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 27; 147:12-20; 126; 102
Deut. 9:23-10:5
Heb. 4:1-10
John 3:16-21

Selected Verses
Ps. 102:13
You will rise up and have compassion on Zion,
          for it is time to favor it;
          the appointed time has come. 

Deut. 9:29
"…For they are the people of your very own possession, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm."  [Moses to the LORD]

Heb. 4:7
…again he sets a certain day--"today" saying through David much later, in the words already quoted,
     "Today, if you hear his voice,
     do not harden your hearts." 

John 3:17
"Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  …"  [Jesus to Nicodemus] 

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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