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 10, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 24, 25, 110
Isaiah 5:1-7
2 Peter 3:11-18
Luke 7:28-35

II. Selections
Psalm 24:1
The earth is the LORD's and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it ...

Isaiah 5:4
What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?

2 Peter 3:13
But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.

Luke 7:28
" ...I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he." [ Jesus to the crowd]

III. Meditation: The old and the new

The earth is yours, and all that fills it,
the earth and all who live in it.
Yet the beautiful vineyard
you have made for us
has yielded sour fruit.
What will you do
with sour fruit?

We await the new kingdom you have promised,
the kingdom where righteousness is so at home
that even the least is greater than Baptizer John
(that paradigm of righteousness).

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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