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.

Our Shield and Our Salvation--Dec. 18, 2019


Gracious God,

when we are brokenhearted over our sin,
teach us not to hide from you in darkness,
but to seek the light of Christ’s presence,
where we can acknowledge the truth
and be forgiven and pardoned.

Christ is our salvation
and the shield
against our accuser.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 50; 147:1-11, 53; 17
Gen. 3:8-15
Rev. 12:1-10
John 3:16-21

Selected Verses
Ps. 147:3
[The LORD] heals the brokenhearted,
          and binds up their wounds.

Gen. 3:8
They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 

Rev. 12:10
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming, “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.”

John 3:21
“…But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”  [Jesus, to Nicodemus]


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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