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 19, 2005

I. Readings
Psalms 40, 67, 122
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Titus 1:1-16
Luke 1:1-25

II. Selections
Psalm 40:1
I waited patiently for the LORD;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.

Zephaniah 3:19b-c
And I will save the lame
and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
and renown in all the earth.

Titus 1:16a
They profess to know God, but they deny him by their actions.

Luke 1:17
With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

III. Meditation: Turn to the wisdom of the righteous
We profess to know you, but we deny you by our actions. You save the lame and gather the outcast; you change their shame to praise and renown. Through your Spirit you turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous. Teach us to wait patiently for you. Incline to us, and hear our cry, and prepare us that we may truly begin to know you.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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