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.

Words of Jesus--Jan. 8, 2021

Lord Jesus Christ, 

you are the first 

and the last.

 

When we cry aloud, 

be gracious to us 

and answer us.

 

May we believe your words;

put them in our mouths 

and in our hearts.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 46; 148; 27; 93

Isa. 59:15b-21

Rev. 2:8-17

John 4:46-54

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 27:7

Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud,
          be gracious to me and answer me!

 

Isa. 59:21

And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD: my spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouths of your children, or out of the mouths of your children's children, says the LORD, from now on and forever.

 

Rev. 2:8

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of the first and the last, who was dead and came to life…”

 

John 4:50

Jesus said to [the royal official], “Go; your son will live.”  The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. 


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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