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 Shall I Return to God?--August 8, 2019


What shall I return to you, God
for all your bounty to me?
Magicians confessed their sins,
burned expensive books.
King David caused the death
of his faithful soldier to
cover up his own lustful act.

After Jesus was transfigured,
he accepted imminent
suffering and death.
But what shall I
return to you?

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 116; 147:12-20; 26; 130
2 Sam. 11:1-27
Acts 19:11-20
Mark 9:2-13

Selected Verses
Ps. 116:12
What shall I return to the LORD
          for all his bounty to me? 

2 Sam. 11:15
In the letter [King David] wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die.”

Acts 19:18-19a
Also many of those who became believers confessed and disclosed their practices [as magicians]. A number of those who practiced magic collected their books and burned them publicly…

Mark 9:12
[Jesus] said to [Peter, James, and John], “Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things.  How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt?  …”

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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