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.

Lives Out of Plumb--Dec. 9, 2013

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God of the living, not of the dead,
you stand among us with a plumb line;
and all of our lives are out of plumb.
You are the Alpha and the Omega;
you are and you were and you
are to come, the Almighty.
We call on you, O God--
help us to make our
lives  more in
plumb.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 122; 145; 40; 67
Amos 7:1-9
Rev. 1:1-8
Matt. 22:23-33

Selected Verses

Ps. 145:18
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
          to all who call on him in truth.

Amos 7:8
And the LORD said to me, "Amos, what do you see?"  And I said, "A plumb line."  Then the Lord said,
     "See, I am setting a plumb line
        in the midst of my people Israel;
        I will never again pass them by…"

Rev. 1:8
"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

Matt. 22:32b
"…He is God not of the dead, but of the living."  [Jesus to some Sadducees]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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