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.

If We Abide in Love--Dec. 25, 2016


Happy are all those who take refuge in you, O God;
but how do we do that? 
Perhaps when you come and dwell in our midst--
but how does that happen?
It happens when we know and believe
the love that you have for us--
if we abide in love,
we abide in you,
and you abide in us.
That is the testimony of the one
who comes from heaven.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 2; 150; 98; 96
Zech. 2:10-13
1 John 4:7-16
John 3:31-36  

Selected Verses
Ps. 2:11c
 Happy are all who take refuge in [the LORD].

Zech. 2:10
Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! For lo, I will come and dwell in your midst, says the LORD. 

1 John 4:16
So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.  God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.

John 3:33
Whoever has accepted [the testimony of the one who comes from heaven] has certified this, that God is true. 

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