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 13, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 18:1-20, 62, 126
Amos 9:1-10
Revelation 2:8-17
Matthew 23:13-26

II. Selections
Psalm 18:1
I love you, O LORD, my strength.

Amos 9:7
Are you not like the Ethiopians to me,
O people of Israel? says the LORD.

Revelation 2:9a
" ...I know your affliction and your poverty, even though you are rich. ... " [ One 'like the Son of Man,' speaking to the angel of the church in Smyrna]

Matthew 23:24
" ...You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel! ... " [ Jesus to the scribes and Pharisees]

III. Meditation: God of surprises

The people in Smyrna suffered persecution and poverty,
but you called them rich. The scribes and Pharisees were
scrupulous in their piety, but you scoffed at their scruples.
Amos prophesied that you were so upset with your people
that you no longer held them in more regard than you did any
other peoples. One might conclude that you are hard to predict;
but with the psalmist we say: we love you, O Lord, our strength.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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