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.


What Will This Child Become?--Dec. 4, 2011



What is the outlook, the promise of things to come?
What prospect for the child born today?
What prospect for a culture of luxurious consumption
surrounded by poverty and starvation?

Will you make us worthy of your call?
Will your power fulfill our
good resolutions and works of faith?
Remember your mercy, God.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 24; 150; 25; 110
Amos 6:1-14
2 Thess. 1:5-12
Luke 1:57-68

Selected Verses
Ps. 25:6
Be mindful of your mercy, O LORD, and of your steadfast love,
      for they have been from of old.

Amos 6:4, 6
Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory,
     and lounge on their couches,
and eat lambs from the flock,
     and calves from the stall…

who drink wine from bowls,
      and anoint themselves with the finest oils,
      but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!

2 Thess. 1:11-12
To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke 1:66
All who heard [the things about the birth of John] pondered them and said, "What then will this child become?" For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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