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.

God’s Steadfast Love--Dec. 28, 2019



God our Maker, we rejoice in you,
Though the mountains may depart
and the hills be removed,
your steadfast love
will not depart from us.

Even though a woman may forget
her nursing child, you will not forget us.
We will be glad in you—you have given us
the Good Shepherd.  He will always  
seek the lamb gone astray.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 2; 149; 110; 111
Isa. 49:13-23
Isa. 54:1-13
Matt. 18:1-14

Selected Verses
Ps. 149:2
Let Israel be glad in its Maker;
          let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.

Isa. 49:15
Can a woman forget her nursing child,
     or show no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even these may forget,
     yet I will not forget you.

Isa. 54:10
For the mountains may depart
     and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
     and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,
     says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

Matt. 18:12
“…What do you think?  If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?  …” [Jesus, to his disciples]

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