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.

The Promise of Freedom--Feb. 3, 2021


We lift up our hands to you, 

O God, lift them up and bless you.

 

Open our eyes, that we may see clearly, 

may see even things we know nothing about.

 

Open our hearts that we may contemplate

the startling news, we are born of the promise.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 96; 147:1-11; 132; 134

Isa. 52:13-53:12

Gal. 4:21-31

Mark 8:11-26

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 134:2

Lift up your hands to the holy place,
          and bless the LORD.

 

Isa. 52:15

…so [my servant] shall startle many nations;
          kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
for that which had not been told them they shall see,
          and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.

 

Gal. 4:23

One [of Abraham’s sons], the child of the slave, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise. 

 

Mark 8:25

Then Jesus laid his hands on [the blind man’s] eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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