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.

Gift of the Spirit, without Measure--Dec. 25, 2017

[From Dec. 25, 2011 archive]

No one has seen you, but if we love one another,
you live in us and your love is perfected in us. 

We conspire to do our own will; in vain
plot to keep control over our lives,
subverting your gracious will. 

Yet you stand and feed your flock,
and he whom you sent gives the Spirit
without measure to those who will receive it.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 2; 145; 98; 96
Micah 4:1-5, 5:2-4
1 John 4:7-16
John 3:31-36

Selected Verses
Ps. 2:1
Why do the nations conspire,
          and the peoples plot in vain?

Micah 5:4a
And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD,
            in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.

1 John 4:12
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

John 3:34
He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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