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.

Blemished, but Keep Me from Falling--Dec. 7, 2019


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Lord Jesus, I would like to stand before you
without blemish, rejoicing in the presence
of your glory, to be glad all my days,
but I will always be blemished.

Nevertheless, Jesus, keep me from falling;
satisfy me in the morning with your steadfast love,
and teach me to give to God the things that are God’s,
and pray help me to work for righteousness and justice.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 90; 149; 80; 72
Amos 5:18-27
Jude 17-25
Matt. 22:15-22

Selected Verses
Ps. 90:14
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
          so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Amos 5:24
But let justice roll down like waters,
        and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Jude 24
Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing…

Matt. 22:21b
Then [Jesus] said to [his questioners], "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's."

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

2 comments:

  1. Mea SententiaDecember 7, 2019 at 10:35 AM

    In the summer of 1982, I went to a week at the Zepher Point Presbyterian Conference Center at Lake Tahoe, NV. Several times we sang a version of the Jude Benediction. I was singing it this morning. Music helps things stay in memory.

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  2. Elmer E. EwingDecember 7, 2019 at 11:15 PM

    I don't recall ever singing or hearing the Jude Benediction, but I certainly know what you mean about music making things stick in the memory. There is a song to help learn the Periodic Table, and the alphabet song for small children, with numerous examples in between these extremes. In your work you must encounter folks who remember hymns after they have forgotten almost everything else. For me the world would be a bleak place without music.

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