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.

Worship Misplaced--July 16, 2020


You are my God;
I have no good apart from you.

Often I need a reminder of that,
and of all the good I have received,
but do not let me prize the reminder
more than I value you.

And may I not see myself as so righteous
that I dare to condemn the way
others worship you.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 97; 147:12-20; 16; 62
Josh. 3:14-4:7
Rom. 12:1-8
Matt. 26:1-16

Selected Verses
Ps. 16:2
I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
          I have no good apart from you.”

Josh. 4:6b-7a
“…When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off in front of the ark of the covenant of the LORD.  …”  [Joshua, to the twelve men who carried the stones out of the Jordan]

Rom. 12:3
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Matt. 26:7-8
…a woman came to [Jesus] with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table.  But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, “Why this waste?  …”

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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