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 25, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 2, 96, 98
Micah 4:1-5, 5:2-4
1 John 4:7-16
John 3:31-36

II. Selections
Psalms 2:1
Why do the nations conspire,
and the peoples plot in vain?

Micah 5:4
And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD,
in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth ...

1 John 4:12
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

John 3:31
The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all.

III. Meditation: We are of the earth

We are of the earth and speak of earthly things.
In vain we conspire and plot, for you come
from heaven and are above all. No one has
ever seen you; but if we love one another,
you live in us and your love is perfected
in us. Stand and feed your flock, that
your people may live secure.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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