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.

Yours, The World and Those Who Live in It--Dec. 8, 2013


 God, the world is yours and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it.

Alas for us if we live in luxury and are not
grieved over the ruin of any part of your world.

May your hand be with those who work to repair  
what has been destroyed, and to care for the injured.

We pray for them--make them worthy of your call;
fulfill by your power their every good
resolve and work of faith.

Lectionary Readings

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

Selected Verses

Ps. 24:1
The earth is the LORD's and all that is in it,
            the world, and those who live in it…

Amos 6:6
[Alas for those]…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
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…

Luke 1:66
All who heard [the things that happened when John was circumcised] 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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