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.

God of My Life--Feb. 16, 2021


I want to show due diligence for your commandments;

I try to pay close attention to what they teach,

but I end up wondering who I am.

 

Who am I, to drift away from you?

Why am I unable to listen and obey?

 

Yet sometimes your song is with me,

the song about your steadfast love.

 

Deep calls to deep; then I know—

it is not a question of my effort to obey,

it is a matter of accepting that steadfast love.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 42; 146; 102; 133

Deut. 6:16-25

Heb. 2:1-10

John 1:19-28

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 42:7-8

Deep calls to deep
          at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
          have gone over me.
By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,
          and at night his song is with me,
          a prayer to the God of my life.

 

Deut. 6:17

You must diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his decrees, and his statutes that he has commanded you.

 

Heb. 2:1

Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.

 

John 1:19

This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

2 comments:

  1. Mea SententiaFebruary 16, 2021 at 6:00 PM

    Well done. Paul Tillich said faith is accepting God’s acceptance of me.

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  2. Elmer E. EwingFebruary 16, 2021 at 8:43 PM

    Thanks for the quote, which is very relevant to what I posted. Paul Tillich paid an extended visit to Cornell, and I eagerly took it all in. Also, I have read many of his writings and taught classes about them. I found him stimulating and his ideas evocative, even though for me his theology omits some essentials.

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