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 18, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 24, 25, 110
Isaiah 9:18-10:4
2 Peter 2:10b-16
Matthew 3:1-12

II. Selections
Psalm 24:6
Such is the company of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Selah

Isaiah 9:20
[ The people of Israel] gorged on the right, but were still hungry,
they devoured on the left, but were not satisfied ...

2 Peter 2:15a
They have left the straight road and have gone astray ...

Matthew 3:5-6
Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to [ John the Baptist], and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

III. Meditation: The company of those who seek you

We join the company of those who seek you;
confessing our sins we seek your face, O God.
But if we leave the straight road and go astray,
then we gorge on the right but are still hungry,
and we devour on the left but are not satisfied.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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