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.

Incline Your Ear, O God--Oct. 22, 2021

[From Oct. 25, 2013 archive]

 

O God of our salvation, 

we cry out in your presence; 

let our prayer come before you; 

incline your ear to hear our cry. 

 

Just as our spirits are refreshed 

if good friends come to visit, 

remind us that your kingdom 

comes to us in Jesus, who is  

its true foundation. 

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 88; 148; 6; 20

Ezra 3:1-13 OR Jer. 43:1-13

1 Cor. 16:10-24

Matt. 12:22-32

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 88:1-2 

O LORD, God of my salvation, 
            when, at night, I cry out in your presence, 
let my prayer come before you; 
            incline your ear to my cry. 

 

Ezra 3:12 

But many of the priests and Levites and heads of families, old people who had seen the first house on its foundations, wept with a loud voice when they saw this house, though many shouted aloud for joy… 

 

1 Cor. 16:17-18a 

I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence; for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. 

 

Matt. 12:28 

“…But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you.  …”  [Jesus to those who accused him of casting out demons through Beelzebul]


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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