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 14, 2005

I. Readings
Psalms 17, 50, 53
Zechariah 3:1-10
Revelation 4:1-8
Matthew 24:45-51

II. Selections
Psalm 17:7
Wondrously show your steadfast love,
O savior of those who seek refuge
from their adversaries at your right hand.

Zechariah 3:4
The angel said to those who were standing before Joshua, "Take off his filthy clothes." And to him he said, "See, I have taken your guilt away from you, and I will clothe you with festal apparel."

Revelation 4:8
And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing, "Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come."

Matthew 24:48-50
" ...But if that wicked slave says to himself, 'My master is delayed,' and he begins to beat his fellow slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know."

III. Meditation: A day when we do not expect you
The image dazzles-four living creatures, each with six wings, full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing the creatures sing, "Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come." Wondrously show your steadfast love, O God, for you save those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand; and we have adversaries within and without. Remove our filthy clothes, take our guilt away from us, and clothe us with festal apparel. Take from us indifference and sloth, stifle our selfishness and self-indulgence, and forbid that we ever should be cruel to those you have put in our care; for we do not know when you will show yourself, or in what guise. Will there be an image that dazzles, or might we suddenly see you in one whom we are victimizing or neglecting?

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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