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 Forcible Entrance--Nov. 14, 2020


 You are our stronghold, a refuge for your people, dear God.

You deliver our souls from death, our feet from falling,

but we cannot force our way into your presence. 

 

The good news is, you give us liberty to speak and act

according to your word; you forgive when we fail,

yet all this is by your grace, not by our power.

 

Lord, in gratitude for your love and for our salvation, 

may we ever walk before you in the Light of life.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 56; 149; 118; 111

Joel 3:9-17

James 2:1-13

Luke 16:10-18

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 56:13

For you have delivered my soul from death,
          and my feet from falling,
so that I may walk before God
          in the light of life.

 

Joel 3:16b

But the LORD is a refuge for his people,
     a stronghold for the people of Israel.

 

James 2:12

So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.

 

Luke 16:16

“The law and the prophets were in effect until John came; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone tries to enter it by force.  …”  [Jesus, to the Pharisees]


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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