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.


Throw Down the Great Dragon--Dec. 18, 2011



On paths of steadfast love and faithfulness
you walk in the garden of our life.
In shadows we hide from you.

Throw down the evil powers that
make us prefer darkness to your light;
illumine our way so we may go with you.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 24; 150; 25; 110
Gen. 3:8-15
Rev. 12:1-10
John 3:16-21

Selected Verses
Ps. 25:10
All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness,
      for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.

Gen. 3:8
They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

Rev. 12:9
The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

John 3:19
And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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