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 Will and My Way--May 4, 2021

[From May 24, 2011 archive, adapted from my May 4, 1999 journal]

 

O God, you are awesome in your deeds among mortals;

I am puffed up over my own trivial accomplishments.

 

You ask us to live in harmony with one another;

the cares and riches and pleasures of life choke my way.

 

You tell us not to be haughty, but to associate with the lowly;

I work for the good opinion of all whose qualifications I admire.

 

You see hope in the future and want us to invest in it;

my eye is on pitfalls and perils—all that may go wrong.

 

God, help me change my way

to conform with your will.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 98; 146; 66; 116

Jer. 32:16-25

Rom. 12:1-21

Luke 8:1-15

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 66:5

Come and see what God has done: 
            he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.

 

Jer. 32:25

Yet you, O Lord GOD, have said to me, “Buy the field for money and get witnesses”—though the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans.

 

Rom. 12:16

Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.

 

Luke 8:14

“…As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.  …”  [Jesus to his disciples]


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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