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.

The Light Has Come--Dec. 18, 2013


 O Mighty One, God the Lord:
you speak and summon the earth,
and summon us to do your bidding.
Where are we when you call?

Are we hiding in the darkness,
too afraid of the light to venture out?
We need not fear; the Light has come
into the world, and our accuser
has been thrown down.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 50; 147:11; 53; 17

Gen. 3:8-15
Rev. 12:1-10
John 3:16-21

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.

Gen. 3:9
But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"

Rev. 12:10
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming, "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God."

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.  …"  [Jesus to Nicodemus]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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