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.

Break Forth into Singing--Dec. 28, 2020


God of Compassion, 

good to all you have made,

you comfort your suffering people.

 

When we go astray, you come to find us;

your steadfast love will not depart from us;

your covenant of peace shall not be removed. 

 

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

break forth O mountains into singing!

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 2; 145; 110; 111

Isa. 49:13-23

Isa. 54:1-13

Matt. 18:1-14

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 145:9

The LORD is good to all,
          and his compassion is over all that he has made.

 

Isa. 49:13

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
          break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the LORD has comforted his people,
          and will have compassion on his suffering ones.

 

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]


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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