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.

To Be Born Anew--March 13, 2019


You take pleasure in those who hold you in awe,
O Living God, those who hope in your steadfast love,
but we are a people quick to turn away from you.
Your Spirit goes where it chooses; will you
not come into our unbelieving hearts,
that we may be born anew?

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 5; 147:1-11; 27; 51
Deut. 9:13-21
Heb. 3:12-19
John 2:23-3:15

Selected Verses
Ps. 147:11
…but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him,
          in those who hope in his steadfast love.

Deut. 9:16
Then I saw that you had indeed sinned against the LORD your God, by casting for yourselves an image of a calf; you had been quick to turn from the way that the LORD had commanded you. 

Heb. 3:12
Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 

John 3:7-8
"…Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.'  The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.  So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."  [Jesus to Nicodemus] 

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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