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.

I Am a Man of the Earth--Jan. 22, 2020



O God, I am a man of the earth,
and I speak of earthly things.

You cover the heavens with clouds,
and you prepare rain for the earth.

Good soil drinks up the water,
and grass grows on the hills.

Open me to the Man from Heaven,
who speaks of heavenly things.

Let me learn from him, lest my life
be filled with thistles and thorns.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 15; 147:1-11; 48; 4
Gen. 9:18-29
Heb. 6:1-12
John 3:22-36

Selected Verses
Ps. 147:8
[The LORD] covers the heavens with clouds,
          prepares rain for the earth,
          makes grass grow on the hills.

Gen. 9:20
Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard.

Heb. 6:7-8a
Ground that drinks up the rain falling on it repeatedly, and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.  But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and on the verge of being cursed…

John 3:31
The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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