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 02, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 63, 90, 125
Zechariah 14:12-21
Philippians 2:1-11
Luke 19:41-48

II. Selections
Psalm 90:14
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Zechariah 14:20a
On that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, "Holy to the LORD."

Philippians 2:1-2
If there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Luke 19:41-42
As [ Jesus] came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, "If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. ... "

III. Meditation: All our days

Lord Jesus, you wept over Jerusalem, and with good reason.
We are stubborn, like the people of Jerusalem,
the things that make for peace hide from our eyes, too.

Open our eyes to your encouragement,
console us in your love and give us your Spirit;
fill all who follow you with compassion and sympathy,
that we may be of the same mind, have the same love, in full accord.

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love;
inscribe in our hearts "Holy to the Lord,"
that we may rejoice all our days.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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