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.

Draw Us Out of Mighty Waters--Dec. 15, 2016


Dear God, we pray, reach down from on high, 
take us, draw us out of mighty waters.

We have made iniquitous decrees, oppressive
laws to turn aside the needy from justice
and to rob poor people of their rights.

We have lost the straight road and gone astray,
without a speechless donkey to warn us.
Give us grace to repent and to bear
fruit worthy of repentance.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 18:1-20; 147:12-20; 126; 62
Isa. 9:18-10:4
2 Peter 2:10b-16
Matt. 3:1-12
           
Selected Verses
Ps. 18:16
[The LORD] reached down from on high, he took me;
          he drew me out of mighty waters.

Isa. 10:1-2
Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees,
     who write oppressive statutes,
to turn aside the needy from justice
     and to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be your spoil,
     and that you may make the orphans your prey! 

2 Peter 2:15-16
They have left the straight road and have gone astray, following the road of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of doing wrong, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.

Matt. 3:8
"…Bear fruit worthy of repentance.  …"  [John the Baptist to Pharisees and Sadducees who had come for baptism]

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