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.

You Give Life to the Dead--March 9, 2021

 

Lord Jesus Christ, 

never has anyone spoken like you. 

You call into being things that do not exist; 

in the God of Abraham, you give life to the dead. 

 

When I look backward rather than forward, 

stubbornly walk in my own counsel,

make me to know your ways;

teach me your paths.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 34; 146; 25; 91

Jer. 7:21-34

Rom. 4:13-25

John 7:37-52

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 25:4

 Make me to know your ways, O LORD;
          teach me your paths.

 

Jer. 7:24

Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but, in the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own counsels, and looked backward rather than forward. 

 

Rom. 4:17b

… in the presence of the God in whom [Abraham] believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 

 

John 7:46

The police answered [the chief priests and Pharisees], “Never has anyone spoken like this!”


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)