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.

To Walk with Newness in Life--March 12, 2021

[From March 24, 2017 archive]

 

Be not far from us when trouble is near

 and there is no one to help, O Lord. 

Teach us to listen for your voice, 

and to do what you command,

that we may be your people 

and you may be our God. 

 

By baptism into death

of our old ways, bury us

 with Christ; then as Christ

was raised from the dead, 

let us walk with him in

newness of life. If the

 Son makes us free, 

we will be free 

indeed.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 22; 148; 105; 130

Jer. 11:1-8, 14-17

Rom. 6:1-11

John 8:33-47

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 22:11

Do not be far from me, 
          for trouble is near 
          and there is no one to help.

 

Jer. 11:3-4

You shall say to [the people of Judah], Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Cursed be anyone who does not heed the words of this covenant, which I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron-smelter, saying, Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you.  So shall you be my people, and I will be your God…

 

Rom. 6:4

Therefore we have been buried with [Christ Jesus] by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

 

John 8:36

"…So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.  …"  [Jesus, to his critics in the temple]


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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