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 23, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 72, 80, 90
Isaiah 33:17-22
Revelation 22:6-11, 18-20
Luke 1:57-66

II. Selections
Psalm 90:10-11
The days of our life are seventy years,
or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;
even then their span is only toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.

Isaiah 33:22
For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our ruler,
the LORD is our king; he will save us.

Revelation 22:20
The one who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon."
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

Luke 1:57
Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son.

III. Meditation: The measure of life

You are our judge, our ruler, our king; the one who saves us.
In your eyes the worth of a life is not measured in years,
nor in freedom from toil and trouble.

Elizabeth gave birth to a son, who announced
the coming of one greater than he.
Elizabeth's son was imprisoned and executed;
the one he proclaimed, scourged and crucified.
Neither attained a span of seventy years-
perhaps half seventy.

Yet no other has given witness so auspicious as did the first.
And no other has been so important as is the second,
for it is in his life that our lives find their value.

Come, Lord Jesus, come!

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