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.

Things We Know About Jesus--Dec. 31, 2013


 Give us an understanding mind,
able to discern between good and evil,
O God.  What are our lives, but a mist that
appears for a little while and then it vanishes?
We do not even know what tomorrow will bring.

Yet some things we know about Jesus--
he has done marvelous things,
and he is the one who
came and healed;
and we sing
to him.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 98; 146; 45; 96
1 Kings 3:5-14
James 4:13-17, 5:7-11
John 5:1-15

Selected Verses

Ps. 98:1a
O sing to the LORD a new song,
          for he has done marvelous things.

1 Kings 3:9
"…Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?"  [Solomon answering the LORD in a dream]

James 4:14
Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring.  What is your life?  For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

John 5:12
[Jews who had criticized him for carrying his mat on the sabbath] asked [the man whom Jesus healed], "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take it up and walk'?"

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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