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.

Gnats or Camels--Dec. 12, 2019


O God my Strength, you know me well.
You know my affliction and my poverty,
even though by world standards I am rich.

You know how I think I have a special call
on you because I dwell in a privileged land,
and my focus on trivia rather than the essential.
You know how I strain at gnats and swallow camels.
Forgive me, O God.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 18:1-20; 147:12-20; 126; 62
Amos 9:1-10
Rev. 2:8-17
Matt. 23:13-26

Selected Verses
Ps. 18:1
I love you, O LORD, my strength.

Amos 9:7
Are you not like the Ethiopians to me,
          O people of Israel? says the LORD.
Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt,
          and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?

Rev. 2:9a
"I know your affliction and your poverty, even though you are rich.  …”  [The Son of Man, to the church in Smyrna]

Matt. 23:23-24
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.  It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.  You blind guides!  You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel! …"  [Jesus]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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