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.

No Root of Bitterness--Feb. 8, 2020


We exult in you, God.  By your grace,
let no root of bitterness spring up—
we seek your glory, not our own.
O, stop our mouths from lying,
may nothing false be in them,
as we tell your urgent message.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 63; 149; 125; 90
Gen. 24:28-38, 49-51
Heb. 12:12-29
John 7:14-36

Selected Verses
Ps. 63:11
But the king shall rejoice in God;
          all who swear by him shall exult,
          for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

Gen. 24:33a
Then food was set before [Abraham’s servant] to eat; but he said, “I will not eat until I have told my errand.”

Heb. 12:15
See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled.

John 7:18
“…Those who speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him.  …”  [Jesus, teaching in the temple]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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