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.

Your Word--Dec. 5, 2012


 O God, the Mighty One,
you speak and summon the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.

We give you thanks for your word
and ask you to instruct us by it.

May we accept it for what it is;
and may it be at work in us,

that we may return to you
all that to you belongs.

In the name of Jesus,
for us your Word.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 50; 147:1-11; 53; 17
Isa. 2:1-4
1 Thess. 2:13-20
Luke 20:19-26

Selected Verses

Ps. 50:1
The mighty one, God the LORD,
            speaks and summons the earth
            from the rising of the sun to its setting.

Isa. 2:3c
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
          and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

1 Thess. 2:13
We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God's word, which is also at work in you believers.

Luke 20:25
[Jesus] said to [the spies who wanted to trap him], "Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's."

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