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.

December 07, 2005

I. Readings
Psalms 17, 50, 53
Amos 8:1-14
Revelation 1:17-2:7
Matthew 23:1-12

II. Selections
Psalm 53:4
Have they no knowledge, those evildoers,
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and do not call upon God?

Amos 8:4
Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land ...

Revelation 2:4-5a
But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.

Matthew 23:3b
" ...but do not do as [ the scribes and Pharisees] do, for they do not practice what they teach. ..."

III. Meditation: Have we no knowledge?
Have we no knowledge, we privileged rich, who eat up your people as we eat bread, and do not call upon you? You summon us to account, for we trample on the needy and bring ruin to the poor of the world. You remind us of the time when our culture embraced the cause of the oppressed; you call us to repent and do the works we did at first. God, help us practice what we teach-and may it be what you teach.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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