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.

Your Name Is Holy--Feb. 8, 2021


O God, your name is Holy.

You dwell in the high and holy place,

but also with the contrite and humble in spirit.

 

The thought makes me grow silent, 

for, though I do not want to seem boastful,

I am often occupied with how to achieve honors.

 

Revive in me contrition and a humble spirit;

keep before me the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ;

remind me that nothing in the world is more important.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 5; 145; 82; 29

Isa. 57:14-21

Gal. 6:11-18

Mark 9:30-41

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 5:5

The boastful will not stand before your eyes;
          you hate all evildoers.

 

Isa. 57:15

For thus says the high and lofty one
          who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
I dwell in the high and holy place,
          and also with those who are contrite and humble in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble,
          and to revive the heart of the contrite.

 

Gal. 6:14

May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 

 

Mark 9:34

But [the disciples] were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. 


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

3 comments:

  1. Mea SententiaFebruary 8, 2021 at 10:21 AM

    Well done and thoughtful. It is a perennial quest for me not to think highly of myself in terms of my achievements, but to think highly of myself as created in the image of God and endowed with spiritual gifts.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Elmer E. EwingFebruary 9, 2021 at 12:11 AM

    Thank you for the alternative mindset. I like it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Elmer E. EwingFebruary 9, 2021 at 12:18 AM

    Afterthought--but of course remembering to think of others in the same way, each with their own God-given traits.

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