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.

What Will the Child Become?--Dec. 22, 2015

[From Dec. 22, 2013 archive]

You are great, O God; there is no other.
When a child is born, we ponder--
what will she or he become?
But no one can answer;
we can only pray.
And so we pray
that your hand will be
with the child, and when in
trouble, that you will pluck their
feet out of the net, and that the blessing
of Abraham might come to the child
so that he or she might receive
the promise of the Spirit
through faith.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 24; 150; 25; 110
2 Sam. 7:18-29
Gal. 3:1-14
Luke 1:57-66

Selected Verses
Ps. 25:15
My eyes are ever toward the LORD,
          for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

2 Sam. 7:22
"…Therefore you are great, O LORD God; for there is no one like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.    "  [David's prayer]

Gal. 3:14
…in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Luke 1:66
All who heard [the things about Elizabeth's baby] pondered them and said, "What then will this child become?"  For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.

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