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.

November 29, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 96, 132, 134
Zechariah 12:1-10
Ephesians 1:3-14
Luke 19:1-10

II. Selections
Psalm 96:2
Sing to the LORD, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.

Zechariah 12:10
And I will pour out a spirit of compassion and supplication on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that, when they look on the one whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

Ephesians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places ...

Luke 19:10
" ...For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost." [ Jesus, at the house of Zacchaeus]

III. Meditation: A spirit of compassion and supplication

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ-
we sing to you and bless your name;
we tell of your salvation from day to day,
for Jesus came to seek out and save the lost.

When we see the suffering of those whom the world calls lost,
pour out on us a spirit of compassion and supplication,
so that we shall mourn as for our own firstborn
and in their anguish see your anguish.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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