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.

How Often, O God?--April 4, 2022

[From April 7, 2014 archive]

 

Faithful God, how often must you humble me, 

and how often send me into the wilderness, 

how often frustrate my desire to be first, 

or my eagerness for spiritual gifts--

how often, O God, before I am fit 

to be your servant, fit to help 

you build up your church? 

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 119:73-80; 145; 121; 6

Exod. 4:10-31

1 Cor. 14:1-19

Mark 9:30-41

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 119:75 

I know, O LORD, that your judgments are right, 
          and that in faithfulness you have humbled me. 

 

Exod. 4:27a 

The LORD said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.”

 

1 Cor. 14:12 

So with yourselves; since you are eager for spiritual gifts, strive to excel in them for building up the church. 

 

Mark 9:35 

[Jesus] sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”

 

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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