Awaiting God Avent and Christmas Devotional 2020
Transcript of Awaiting God Avent and Christmas Devotional 2020
Awaiting God
Advent and Christmas
Devotional for 2020
Nipomo Community Presbyterian Church
Rev. Dr. Garrett J. Andrew
An Introduction
This Advent and Christmas Devotional is meant to help you center yourself daily
during the turbulent days of 2020. It is meant to help you feel connected to the God of
the universe who was born Mary’s baby over 2000 years ago. This time of year is always
hard, but this year is different. There are still errands to run, but no longer parties to
attend. There are still trips to make, but not like we are used to making them. There are
still things to cook, but not as much as previous years. Whatever joy we are accustomed
to experiencing this time of year, it is different this year.
Covid-19, coupled with deep political and racial divisions, makes this year harder. For
some, even the idea of taking time to center themselves in God seems hard. However,
as the days grow darker, and our traditions are left in boxes, it is our call to discover
ways new and old to celebrate Christ and worship God.
Discovering the ways to center ourselves in the heart of God will allow us to be light to
the world, and the world needs some light. Since we cannot be in our churches this
Advent and Christmas, we get to create sanctuaries in our homes. Find a place in your
home and make it holy. Set it aside for God. Make your own Advent wreath. Then use
this devotional while lighting the candle(s) for that week.
Each day of this devotional contains a Scripture passage from the daily lectionary, a
reflection, an action item, and a prayer. Use it as you see fit, but use it for worship and
light a candle as a part of that worship.
These ancient acts of worship, in the face of the issues of our time, are our task as
children of the Light. They serve to keep us centered in God and thereby centered in
truth. They serve to guide us in the way of Christ. They serve others by ensuring that
we continue practicing love in a world with too much hate.
This year I read several books by Howard Thurman. He was a great American mystic,
poet, preacher, author, teacher, prophet, and civil rights leader. In encouraging you to
light your candle each day during the Advent and Christmas seasons I end this
introduction with a poem from his book, Meditations of the Heart:
I will light candles this Christmas,
Candles of joy despite all the sadness,
Candles of hope where despair keeps watch,
Candles of courage for fears ever present,
Candles of peace for tempest-tossed days,
Candles of grace to ease heavy burdens,
Candles of love to inspire all my living,
Candles that will burn all year long.
With hope, love, joy, and peace,
Garrett
A Quick Comment on Advent
Advent is the beginning of the Christian calendar and begins four Sundays before
Christmas, the Sunday closest to St. Andrew’s feast day on November 30th. Advent has
traditionally been a time of preparation and penitence while waiting for the arrival of
the Christ. In fact, the word “Advent” means “arrival.”
In our culture, we begin to think about Christmas music during early November, if not
before. In church, we aren’t supposed to be singing Christmas songs until Christmas
Eve! There is not much waiting anymore. So I suggest we keep the ritual and let some of
the tradition go. Doubtless someone will argue with me, but nonetheless, let us walk
with Jesus now and not worry. Sing Christmas songs and rejoice!
Advent wreaths have been used with the dual symbolism of the circle and evergreens.
The circle represents union and eternity, the evergreens represent life. Advent wreaths
often have three purple candles, one pink candle, and one white candle in the middle
surrounded by the other four. The color purple symbolizes penitence, as traditionally
Advent is a season similar to Lent. This year is a mournful year; even as we sing
Christmas songs we must not forget our need to confront ugly realities. We light
candles in hopeful defiance of the pain, knowing that God has the final say. The pink
candle is lit on the Sunday of Joy. It is pink because penitence and joy don’t often mix,
or so the thinking goes. The white candle is the Christ Candle. It is lit on Christmas Eve,
and lit again during the twelve days of Christmas.
In my tradition, the Sundays of Advent are often associated with a word. Each word is a
beautiful intention that we make as we move throughout the season. The first Sunday
of Advent is the Sunday of Hope. The second is the Sunday of Love. The third is the
Sunday of Joy (with its pink candle). The fourth and final Sunday of Advent is the
Sunday of Peace. It is common to see the Sundays of Love and Peace switched.
These four words each remind us of an aspect of Christ, as well as set our own
intention. Christ is hope, love, joy, and peace, and we are to live with and become hope,
love, joy, and peace. Hope does not mean simple optimism, but trusting that God’s will
shall be done. Love is the belief that God is love and we are loved, and the living out of
the commandments to love God and neighbor. Joy is the childlike wonder of Christmas
approaching and feeling that again and again as we enjoy God and creation. Peace, the
Hebrew idea of Shalom, is the inner peace that moves us to live peacefully with all of
creation as Jesus, the Prince of Peace, exemplified.
As we go through these weeks of Advent and Christmas, and go into a new year, may
we do so with a renewed intentionality toward hope, love, joy, and peace, and thereby
press ahead as people of the Light. May God’s grace meet us where we are and take us
to places our imaginations never dared to dream. May we meet the Christ and follow
him as he heals and preaches good news. May Christ be born again within each of us.
The First Week of Advent - Hope
Sunday, November 29
Today’s Scripture - Psalm 24
Today’s Reflection:
Say the word, “hope.” Sometimes we wonder where we may ever find something as
precious as hope. What does it mean to you to live with hope?
This ancient psalm reminds us that the earth is God’s, and all that is in it. It
speaks of the need to lift up the gates protecting cities “that the King of glory may come
in.” Hope necessitates that we remember no matter what is happening, this creation is
God’s and in God’s control. Hope comes when we open up our defenses that keep us
safe, but never safe from worry, so God can meet us where we are.
The Christian tradition claims that God became a human being, with all of the
frailties of humanity. This is our most hopeful claim. God does not ever abandon us!
God instead does what other religious traditions believe is impossible. God becomes
one of us that we may know what we are created to be.
The claim of Christmas is that God loves humanity, and the human body, and
the messiness of being a human so much, that God chose to be with us in the flesh.
Maybe you don’t love your humanity, your human body, and the messiness of being a
human. Maybe you don’t think all of this can be loved. The claim of Christmas is that it
can be, and that means that nothing is hopeless, because God is still at work.
Action Item:
Think of the gifts you are giving to others. Are they gifts of hope? Consider figuring out
ways to make them hopeful. Perhaps you can make gifts, use an alternative gift fair that
serves the needy while honoring another, write a letter to someone about what they
mean to you. Choose at least two people to give “gifts of hope” to for Christmas.
Prayer:
God of hope, open my heart, mind, and soul to experience some of the ways you are working in
the midst of pain, that I might taste your hope and know it is real. Amen.
Monday, November 30
Today’s Scripture - Psalm 40
Today’s Reflection:
Hope is always most real in the act of waiting. Waiting as an act may mean crying out
while stuck in the desolate pit, or miry bog, but not giving up the belief that God will
“put a new song in my mouth.” Hope exists where trust exists. We can trust that good
will prevail over evil, trust that people will do the right thing, and trust that we will
continue to progress as a species, but when such trust is tested hope is usually
sacrificed.
The Psalm offers a trust in God as the only means of hope. We are waiting on
God when we are at our most hopeful. We wait by daring to speak up for what God
desires because we trust that is what God wants of us. We wait by being good to the
poor of all kinds. We wait by believing we do not need to participate in the broken
ways of the world that chooses violence and hate and division. We wait when things do
not go our way because we are waiting on God and never lose hope.
The only thing we can be sure of in our waiting is that God will surprise us. The
stories of Christmas are all about surprises. Mary was surprised, Joseph was surprised,
some shepherds were surprised, we are still surprised. The only thing that is actually
worth waiting for is the One that made this all and will see it through in the most
surprising of ways through the most surprising of people.
Action Item:
Today practice a hopeful act of waiting by not spending any money unnecessarily.
Make coffee at home, eat the leftovers instead of ordering in, don’t buy that shirt you
don’t need. At the end of the day think of how much you saved. Give it away. In doing
that while waiting for God, you gave your hope to others.
Prayer:
God of hope, help me wait for you by showing me all the things I can do while waiting that
allows the light of hope to burn within me. Amen.
Tuesday, December 1
Today’s Scripture - Psalm 146
Today’s Reflection:
To be hopeful is to praise God. Have you ever tried to sing some words that didn’t have
music for them, but there was music in your heart for them? Psalm 146 starts off that
way for me. Try singing it, too. “Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul! I will
praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.”
Praise pours from the one who trusts God and thereby hopes. Notice what the
ancient psalm believes of God. It is God who gives justice to the oppressed, serves food
to the hungry, sets prisoners free, opens the eyes of the blind, lifts up the lowly, loves
the righteous, watches over strangers, upholds the needy, and ends the ways of evil. Do
you remember Jesus’s first sermon in his hometown in Luke 4? He says in him such
things are fulfilled.
Yet there are still people who are oppressed, hungry, imprisoned, blind, lowly,
unwelcome, needy, and there seems to be plenty of evil. So can we trust this God? Go
deep inside yourself, where reason is irrational and your soul sings this psalm because
it knows that it is true. Stay there for a moment. What you are experiencing is faith, and
faith is the assurance of things hoped for. Reinhold Niebuhr wrote in his book, The Irony
of American History, “Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime;
therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes
complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by
faith.” Let hope and faith save you and be a part of some absurd project of God that has
no chance of being achieved in our lifetimes.
Action Item:
Don’t read or watch any news today. Use the time you spend consuming news to think
of people you are grateful for, people who have helped you when you were poor or
needy or a stranger. Pray for them and write at least one such person a letter telling
them how they’ve given you hope. It will be good news to them.
Prayer:
God of hope, thank you for the people who have been your hope to me. They have helped me to
hear the song of my soul. Inspire me now to help others hear their songs. Amen.
Wednesday, December 2
Today’s Scripture - Isaiah 2:1-4
Today’s Reflection:
Isaiah’s words beautifully describe the will of God. God desires a home which all
people “shall stream to,” so that God “may teach us his ways and that we may walk in
his paths.” The end of these paths is the end of all war.
Through the incarnation God made a home with us that wasn’t just a temple or
mountain or altar. God became a human to be one of us. God moved into the
neighborhood, as Eugene Peterson famously said. God made a home in our homes.
Think of it! God is at home with you right where you are. Jesus still calls us to
follow him that we learn from him and walk his paths. The end of his path is the end of
war, and if everyone were to truly follow it, war on earth would end. However, to walk
in his path, if only with him, still ends the wars within.
The wars that rage within our psyches and cause us to continually question our
worth and our belovedness, that keep us worrying over things we do not control, that
keep us resentful and unforgiving, that make us selfish and fearful, or any other war
that keeps us from inner peace and acts of selfless compassion, are all ended when we
walk in the way of Jesus.
If we accept that he chooses us to live this way, we become hope for others that
they can have this peace too.
Action Item:
Play a game with someone you love today. It doesn’t matter what the game is, but take
time to be with someone like God is with you, completely. No phones, no electronics,
just someone you love, and fun.
Prayer:
God of hope, you knock on my door as a homeless baby, today I open that door that you may be at
home in me and I may learn your ways and walk your paths. Amen.
Thursday, December 3
Today’s Scripture - Psalm 126
Today’s Reflection:
This psalm is so very honest. The first half is a memory of God saving people in the
past. The second half is a plea that God save them now, with the certain hope that
“those who go out weeping… shall come home with shouts of joy.” Life is so often
hindsight, seeing what God has done, and hoping that God will keep on doing it.
When I was a young seminary intern I was blessed to work with the saints of
Sojourner Truth Presbyterian Church. This loving and small congregation took a white
intern into the black church and taught me a lot about faith.
At the beginning of each service they sang the same song, “We’ve Come This Far
By Faith.” They sang each week that God had never failed them in that song. Then at
the end of each service they sang, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” That song is hopeful but
honest that there is still the need to “march on ’til victory is won.” For a people who
have suffered in my country for generations in ways that I cannot comprehend, their
hope gave me hope, because they believed so deeply that their hope was in God that I
believed it, too.
Hope is often strongest amid those who suffer more when their hope is in God. I
know that sounds crazy. But not as crazy as the Creator of the universe being born,
breastfed, and needing a change of diapers, I suppose.
Action Item:
Do not listen to the radio in the car today. If you don’t get in the car at all, sit in silence
for twenty minutes. Or do both. Consider all the ways God held and cared for you in
the past. Breathe in the hope that God is doing it still.
Prayer:
God of hope, this has been a hard year, but I know that you have taken us this far, and that
whatever happens I will always be with you. Amen.
Friday, December 4
Today’s Scripture - 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12
Today’s Reflection:
In Christ, God’s call us to be holy. To be holy is to be set apart for a purpose. That
purpose is to love. Paul knew this and wrote such to the Thessalonians. He tells them
that they learned how to live by watching Paul live.
We have each learned how to live the way of God by watching others. They have
been, and are, quite literally, our hope that we can live the way of God too. During this
time of year we usually attempt to gather around friends and family, the people who
love us and we love, too. We know those who love us because they have been those we
can go to when we stumble, fail, break apart, and fall down. When we seek out the love
of others in our need, we find those who forgive and encourage us. They remind us that
we are still loved when we wonder if we can love ourselves. They are precious and our
hearts rejoice in the presence of their love.
Paul recommends a way to live this way of love toward others, and thereby to be
the hope that they can find that love when it feel like their worlds are falling apart.
“Aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands” (1
Thessalonians 4:11). The goal being that we don’t look to see what others can give us.
Instead we only see them as they are, miracles. The one who can see others as miracles
to be celebrated is always the bringer of hope. You were made and are called to be the
bringer of hope.
Action Item:
Take all of the advertisements that come in the mail, the newspaper, and magazines,
and throw them in the recycler without even looking at them. You don’t need anything
else to be a miracle.
Prayer:
God of hope, you know who I am. Remind me again that I am a miracle and open my eyes to
every miracle I encounter today that I may bring hope to all I encounter. Amen.
Saturday, December 5
Today’s Scripture - Psalm 90
Today’s Reflection:
“Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.” God always is. This psalm
reminds us that our days are short. We will be swept away. Our sinfulness is known to
God, and as such, makes God angry, and we know why. God becomes angry when we
are not with God, when we think our lives are somehow special apart from God.
Thomas Merton wrote in No Man is an Island, “Pride always longs to be unusual.
Humility not so. Humility find all its peace in hope, knowing that Christ must come
again to elevate and transfigure ordinary things and fill them with his glory.” Pride is
always the antithesis of hope, for it places hope in us alone. The end of the psalm
becomes a prayer that God’s works be made manifest in us, and that the work of our
hands prosper, since such work will be the work of God.
Advent and Christmas are our annual reminder that God became one of us to
show us what we are to be. The temptation of religion is to accept the forgiveness of
Christ without participating in the life of Christ. However, the forgiveness is there to
free us from pride to humbly walk with the One who said, “learn from me for I am
gentle and humble of heart.”
This hope is always available to us, for God is always present for us to make a
home in God. This hope is always available to us, for God became one of us to make a
home in us. This is the true hope of Advent. That Christ must come again to take our
ordinary lives and fill them with glory. God’s work pours from you. This is not
unusual, it is divine.
Action Item:
Create some kind of art today. Draw a picture, paint, build, play music, write a poem,
do something ordinary that manifests the love of God. Share it.
Prayer:
God of hope, take my life and fill it with your glory. Use my hands to do your work that others
may find hope in you through me. Amen.
The Second Week of Advent - Love
Sunday, December 6
Today’s Scripture - Isaiah 5:1-7
Today’s Reflection:
Some love songs are painful. We wish it were not so. We wish so badly that love was
easy. It isn’t. Here Isaiah sang a song of love to God, about what God loved. However,
the people God loved did not live the life of love themselves, and it broke God’s heart.
There are so many now with broken hearts. How many homes will be empty of
celebration this Christmas? How many chairs will be empty at dinner tables of those
who have died this last year? How many people scream out for justice? In each cry and
scream is God who cries and screams too.
God is love, and God became one of us to show us the way of love. The shortest
verse in the Bible is “Jesus wept.” Grief is the experience of love that has no place to go.
I know you hurt this season. I know that it isn’t what you expected and certainly isn’t
what you wanted. I also know that the pain you feel is because you love. God’s heart
broke when those God loved did not love others.
In Jesus we discover how far that love will go to be with us. It will go to death
and back again just to tell us, “I love you, I love you, I love you. Now love others, love
others, love others.”
Isaiah spoke of his beloved, God, building a vineyard. God had hoped that the
wine would be amazing for all. God still hopes that in building a home in us, the wine
will be amazing for all. You are the beloved of God, created to love others amazingly,
justly, and beautifully. It is the message of Christmas.
Action Item:
Spend five minutes in silence thinking of people that you have hurt, either accidentally
or on purpose. Call at least one today, and share your love by seeking forgiveness. In
that way the vineyard that is you will begin producing the best grapes, the grapes of
love.
Prayer:
God of love, I am sorry for the ways I have provoked your anger by not acting as your beloved.
Remind me who I am to you, and grant me the courage to live that way. Amen.
Monday, December 7
Today’s Scripture - 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Today’s Reflection:
Advent is a season of waiting, and we await the arrival of Christ who will make all
things complete. Paul believed, like Jesus taught, that this arrival will come at any time.
Many western Christians have come to believe that Jesus will come again some day, but
it may also be that Jesus comes again in our days over and over again. “Keep awake,”
Paul said, so we are ready for him.
How do we keep awake as we wait? According to Paul, it was in the act of loving
each other. “Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you
are doing.” Encouragement and building up each other is one of the surest forms of
love. Think of all of the people in your life who have encouraged you and built you up.
Each one of them loved you so much that they had no other choice but to do the work
of love, which reminded you who you were.
How many teachers, mentors, pastors, friends, family, even strangers have
encouraged you to be who you are? How many times have you met Jesus in them? I
will not dare to count, because there are so many. Just as important is the question, how
many people have we encouraged and built up? How many people think of us when
they think of those who have loved them into becoming their true selves? For such
people, when they think of us, may wonder if in us they met Jesus.
Action Item:
Today pay attention to every stranger that you meet. Find opportunities to notice them,
encourage them, and build them up. Maybe something as simple as, “Hey, nice shoes!”
You do not need to know them to know that God loves them. Love them too.
Prayer:
God of love, come again into my life. Remove the clutter that keeps you from making a home in
me. Then use my life to build up others so they may know that Christ is born. Amen.
Tuesday, December 8
Today’s Scripture - 1 Thessalonians 12-28
Today’s Reflection:
As Paul concludes what may be the first letter we have from him, he gives a crash
course on love. Respect and love those who work for you. Be at peace among
yourselves. Admonish those who are idle and need some pushing (in a different letter
Paul said, “Speak the truth in love,” so I would guess that this is the best way to
admonish people). Encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, and be patient with
them. Do not repay evil for evil (end the cycle of violence and victimization!). Always
seek to do good for each other. Rejoice always, give thanks in all circumstances (because
there are always reasons to give thanks), pray without ceasing…
I am tired of hearing, “We need to keep Christ in Christmas.” To me it sounds
like people acting like victims who are no longer allowed to celebrate Christmas. This
year there are those who are furious with governments for trying to slow the spread of
Covid-19 and are limiting our worship celebrations. Paul was begging people to keep
the Christ in Christian. Our worship services matter far less to God than our living out
the way of Christ.
This Christmas we get to celebrate by keeping the Christ in Christian. It is God
who calls you to be a Christian, and this God is faithful and will make sure that you do.
In other words, God will pour love into you so that love pours out of you. Let the love
flow!
Action Item:
Reflect on people in your life who have admonished you lovingly and worked for you.
Pray for them and thank God for them.
Prayer:
God of love, use my broken love to bring about your full love in the life of someone who doesn’t
believe that love is real. Amen.
Wednesday, December 9
Today’s Scripture - Psalm 147:1-11
Today’s Reflection:
Do you remember the Howard Thurman poem in the introduction to this book? Go and
read it again. What we are doing by daily lighting a candle, reading Scripture, reflecting
on it, acting on it, and praying, is lighting the candle of Christmas within us. When we
do that we know that the world hurts, oppresses, and wounds us and others in so many
ways. We also know that God desires to gather the broken-hearted and heal the
wounds of the hurt. When we light our inner candle, we are hoping in God’s steadfast
love.
In our daily actions of sharing hope and love so far, we have been allowing
God’s light to flow through us to give light to others. This is one of the surest ways to
sing praises to God. Certainly we can always sing actual songs to praise God, but what
if our lives become songs to God? Or better yet, what if our lives inspire others to sing
praises to their Creator and Savior?
God desires that we care for each other. “His delight is not in the strength of the
horse, nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner” (Psalm 147:10). In other words, God
doesn’t care about strength and power, God cares about love. Jesus came to show us
how this is lived out. We have a chance this year, when we cannot do anything
normally, to share love without any of the strength or power that we normally do.
Instead we get to share love from ourselves, and know that as we do, the light of
Christmas burns within us.
Action Item:
Call up someone and tell them you’d like to bring them a meal. Socially distance
yourself, but cook someone a meal. Make sure to make it with love as you do. Then feed
someone a meal made with love.
Prayer:
God of love, Jesus said, “This is my body broken for you.” As I feel broken today because of what
I cannot normally do, may my brokenness feed another as Christ has fed me. Amen.
Thursday, December 10
Today’s Scripture - Psalm 62
Today’s Reflection:
Advent is a season of waiting, and thereby a time for patience. Patience is something
that is rarely valued these days. Our lives have become easier in many ways because of
the lack of waiting that is necessary in our living. We order things online and expect
them to arrive to our homes the next day. We wait in lines and get frustrated if we wait
too long. We expect that produce, whether in season or out of season, is available to us
at all times. We send a text and become angry if the person does not reply quickly. We
do not like to wait. A season of pandemic is exasperating our already frayed patience.
Yet we have a season of waiting that is included in the Christian calendar. This
year we get to wait more. We are waiting for the end of a pandemic. We are waiting for
a vaccine and hoping that it works. We are waiting for a peaceful transfer of
government. We are waiting for a time we can again gather with our loved ones and
enjoy our holiday seasons as we took for granted in years past. We are waiting.
This psalm reminds us that a part of our spirituality is waiting for God. The
people of Christ’s time had waited for four hundred years, as no prophet had risen up
to speak to the people from God. They waited while Rome did as empires do and
subjugated them. They waited while the whole world seemed chaotic and crazy. They
waited.
Then, when Jesus showed up, they were surprised. They weren’t expecting God
to show up as a baby. But it is still Jesus that brings us salvation. It is still Jesus who is
our rock and fortress. And in the midst of our waiting, it is still the love of Jesus that
keeps us going. Take a moment, wait in silence, and don’t be shaken.
Action Item:
Today is International Human Rights Day. There are so many people waiting for basic
rights in the world. Contribute to an organization that supports human rights today by
volunteering, financially contributing, or praying for that organization.
Prayer:
God of love, you have loved me all of my days. I can always see your love in hindsight. Allow me
to see your love as I wait during these hard days. Amen.
Friday, December 11
Today’s Scripture - Luke 22:14-30
Today’s Reflection:
Sometimes I meditate on the Last Supper. I try to see Jesus at a table with Peter and
Judas. I wonder, if I knew what he knew, would I be able to sit there with them? I hope
I would. I hope I can see this most holy of meals and realize that this is love at its most
beautiful.
We are so divided in our nation that families split apart because of choices made
in elections. We are so certain that we are right that we are willing to choose being right
over choosing love, and have somehow deluded ourselves into thinking that is love.
Then I imagine Jesus at the table with people he loves. One who is about to deny
knowing that he exists. Another who is going to betray him with a kiss.
He was honest with them. He was always honest. More important to him was
loving them, however. “I really want to have this meal with you,” he told them. “This
broken bread is my broken body. This cup of wine is my blood, a new covenant of
forgiveness and grace. Do not forget it!”
Peter and Judas both forgot. We still forget. Peter denied him and ran away
crying, feeling utterly broken. Matthew’s gospel says Judas tried to give the money back
and, in total anguish, took his own life. Sometimes I wonder if he had just remembered
the meal they shared together, would he have known he was forgiven? Maybe he
would have stopped himself and walked the way of his Lord again.
Most families cannot be together this Christmas, the pandemic changing our
lives as it is. Other families cannot be together because they deny knowing each other,
or have betrayed each other. The nature of our days means we cannot change the first
issue, but the second issue… well, love can change that. Let love change that.
Action Item:
Clean out something in your closet that you haven’t worn and know you won’t. Give it
to someone who needs it.
Prayer:
God of love, you love me even when I deny you and betray you. This love has saved me over and
over. Grant that I remember your saving love all during this season. Amen.
Saturday, December 12
Today’s Scripture - 2 Thessalonians 3:6-18
Today’s Reflection:
Sometimes when I officiate weddings, if the couple doesn’t have a Scripture passage
they want me to use, I just use the separation of the sheep and goats passage in
Matthew 25. It is a judgment passage, and certainly not flowery and sentimental like
wedding services often can be. Why do I use such a passage? Because it is about doing
love, and not just some simple idea of being in love.
In this letter, Paul is writing to people who have a group within their ranks that
refuses to do anything to help the community. They are well and able, but decided that
since others are doing the work they won’t worry about it. Like children without a
chore to do, they lounged around all day waiting for the moment they could benefit
from the work of others. Paul takes a strict stance with such people while ultimately
saying, “Do not regard them as enemies, but warn them as believers.”
Advent is a season of penitence and repentance. The myriad of little ways we
have neglected the commandments of Christ to love God and love others and love
ourselves is a contraction of our high calling. We speak of loving others, but our words
are empty if the deeds of love do not follow them.
There is always something you can do to add to the love in the world. If you
have attempted to do the action items in this devotional book, you know the truth of
this. When we light the candle of Christmas that light burns the whole year long.
When I read from Matthew 25 at a wedding, I tell people I am about to join in a
union of holy matrimony that some days they will need to feed each other when they
are angry with each other. Some days one will be thirsty for attention when the other
doesn’t want to give attention. Some days it may feel like they wake up next to a
stranger and they still need to welcome each other. I tell them I hope they see Christ in
each other, even when they think of each other as the least of these. “Whatever you did
to the least of these who are members of my family, you did to me.”
Action Item:
Go through your house and find twelve things you don’t need anymore, one for each
day until Christmas. Donate them. In this way you simplify life and do love.
Prayer:
God of love, you endlessly call me to do the right thing, at the right moment, for the right reason.
This is love, and I pray that I walk in the light of your love my whole life long. Amen.
The Third Week of Advent - Joy
Sunday, December 13
Today’s Scripture - Luke 1:46b-55
Today’s Reflection:
Imagine Mary. She has the strangest news. She is a simple teenager, engaged to a
simple man, living in a town so simple the Old Testament never mentions it. She is
going to be the mother of God.
While I know what it is like to be called by God, I have no idea what this news
was like to hear. When God chased me, I ran away. The experience of my calling was a
bit more like Jonah. I had to be chased down, and occasionally chewed up and spit out.
Not Mary. She sang out in joy. Jeremiah said, “I’m just a boy.” Mary said, “My
soul magnified the Lord.” Moses said, “I cannot speak.” Mary said, “My spirit rejoices
in God my Savior.” Isaiah said, “Surely I am going to die for I am a man of unclean
lips.” Mary said, “God has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.” Elijah
said, “I alone am left, and they’re going to kill me.” Mary said, “Surely, from now on all
generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me.”
Mary took the news of her calling, the highest calling there has ever been, with
utter joy. She knew her heart would break in ways she could not imagine, but she knew
God was breaking into the world through her and nothing would ever be the same. Her
joy could not be stopped because it was the joy of heaven.
I know the world is hard. I know the trials and temptations to overcome are
many and difficult. I know how easy it is to complain and get lost in anger over
humanity’s inhumanity to humanity. I know it often seems like joy was stillborn, if joy
was born at all. Mary knew, too, but knew God more. No wonder our Catholic sisters
and brothers pray to her. Whatever our Protestant sensibilities tell us about that, we
know why they do. They want to be like her. They want to know the joy of giving birth
to the Christ in the midst of a world that seems more tragic than magic. They want the
magic of Christmas. We all want that.
Whatever is happening this year that is trying to rob you of your joy, we are
waiting for the Christ. Maybe, if we look at her, Mary, the mother of Christ, she will
teach us to rejoice in that, too.
Action Item:
Do you have a sacred space in your home? Perhaps it is where you set up a nativity
scene or a Christmas tree. When the decorations go away, put something in your sacred
space to remind you to pray daily for the joy of Christmas.
Prayer: God of joy, give me the joy of that teenage girl who refused to be afraid when confronted
with the worst of the world, because in you she had the best in the world. Amen.
Monday, December 14
Today’s Scripture - 2 Peter 1:1-11
Today’s Reflection:
There are an infinite number of ways we could come up with to describe the divine
nature, and we would never be able to describe it all. As this seems to be true of beauty,
too, it is easiest for me to describe the divine nature as beautiful. That which is beautiful
is divine somehow, as if God used the divine self to paint, and sculpt, and sing, and
write, and speak, and dance, and fly everything that is beautiful into being.
You are beautiful! This is true because God made you. Oh, I know, the world is
often ugly, and it has done some ugly things to you, but what is more true is that you
are beautiful! Peter wanted people to know this, too. He knew that God gave us all the
power we needed to live this life beautifully. He also knew that sometimes people
forget they are beautiful and start doing ugly things. We all know that. Each of us has
both seen beautiful people do terrible things, and have done terrible things even though
we are beautiful people.
Advent invites us to ready ourselves for Christ again. It is a yearly invitation to
prepare a place within us for the Christ to be born. We do it yearly because, to be quite
frank, we forget as the year goes on.
This year it has been a lot easier to forget. Broken politics and severed discourse
have trickled down from Washington into our homes and our hearts. Goodness,
knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, mutual affection, and love have largely
been abandoned into the trash heap of our collective despair that manifests itself in self-
righteous rage and hate.
God showed up from down low in Bethlehem, away from the up high in Rome.
Jesus bubbled up from Nazareth instead of trickling down from Jerusalem. Peter told
people to escape the corruption of the world and participate in the divine nature
because of this. We need to start from the inside. Find your inner joy where you know
you are beautiful. Find where God’s light births into you. Let it shine.
Action Item:
Write five thank-you notes to people today. Gratitude is one of the purest forms of joy
because it gives your joy to the others.
Prayer:
God of joy, I am so often unable to see my own beauty. Remind me that I am your beloved, and
you see as me more beautiful than I can fathom. Amen.
Tuesday, December 15
Today’s Scripture - Isaiah 9:2-7
Today’s Reflection:
I remember something Pope John Paul II said, “Do not abandon yourselves to despair.
We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.” Isaiah spoke of the day that
people who walked in darkness see a great light. A light shines on us, dear souls. The
light of God’s grace and love pours upon us. The joy of Christ is ours.
You can feel it, the truth of this. All that separates you from God is gone. The
story of Christ is that God became one of us to tell us we are loved. We did not believe
God in Christ, could not believe we could be loved. Instead of rejoicing we killed that
Love. But love is stronger than even death. Defeating the grave, Love burst forth again
telling us the truth. We are loved, and the joy of creation is ours.
In Yuba City a local group of musicians and singers come together every year
toward the middle of Advent to preform Handel’s Messiah. They cannot do it this year.
But years ago when I wasn’t feeling Christmas in my heart, they ended with the
Hallelujah Chorus and it was as if God grabbed onto me and light poured from me. The
One of whom they sang in “For Unto Us a Child is Born,” the “Wonderful Counselor,
Almighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,” poured into me as pure
light, as the great Chorus shook all of me. Hallelujah is our song. Sing it with joy, you
are the beloved of God after all.
Action Item:
They say all the darkness in the world cannot extinguish a single candle. Spend five
minutes staring at the three dancing candles of your Advent Wreath, or light a candle if
you don’t have a wreath. Bathe in the light. As you breathe in say, “Hal-le,” and as you
breathe out say, “lu-jah.”
Prayer:
God of joy, when I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, be my light and joy so the shadow
never overwhelms me. Amen.
Wednesday, December 16
Today’s Scripture - Mark 1:1-8
Today’s Reflection:
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is about preparation.
This is true whether we hear the old stories about John the Baptizer perfectly playing
the role of crazy prophet talking in the wilderness about Jesus coming, or the old
spinster still setting up her nativity in a messy house and telling anyone who will listen
that he is coming again.
We would do well to listen to both of them. If we did, perhaps we would put
aside a bit of greed, a dash of rage, even gentle frustrations, and think, “If Jesus comes
right now I want to be my best.” Of course that takes a lot of work, and the ways that
we will fail might make us wonder if it is even worth trying in the first place.
Keep trying. When we figure out that our anger, hate, greed, and fear aren’t
helpful, we should try to let them go. When they come back, because such things
always do, they will try to be sneaky. They may even get into us again. Then we have to
let them go when we realize it has happened again. We do this, over and over. We let
the bad pieces within us go, over and over, that we may be filled with the joy that God
is coming, over and over. God is always coming. This is preparation. It is the beginning
of the good news. There is so much more.
Action Item:
Tonight have a simple meal. Soup and bread or beans and rice, just enough and no
more. Think of the people who do not have enough. What is one thing you can do to
serve them? Do it.
Prayer:
God of joy, make me grateful for whatever I have today, and empty me of those things which do
not give me gratitude, that I may do for others that which will help them praise your name.
Amen.
Thursday, December 17
Today’s Scripture - Psalm 18:1-20
Reflection:
The psalm for today is a psalm of praise for God and the ways which God delivered the
one who wrote this ancient poem. Some people have stories of God saving them from
all sorts of things. Those who are recovering addicts speak of their Higher Power who
saves them daily from an endless cycle of addiction, depravity, and chaos. Parents who
tried for years to have children, thank God when an improbable little one is theirs.
People who have overcome illness, despair, painful circumstances, and so much more,
will find that it is because of God that they overcame.
What do we say to those who pray and nothing changes? I don’t know. But I do
know that God is with them. I do know that the whole idea of the Incarnation, that God
would be born as one of us, means that however messed up life gets, we are not alone. I
know this because even when I have felt most alone, I have seen over and over that God
has been, is, and will be with me.
Maybe today you can speak of overcoming because God delivered you. Or, and
if this is you, I am sorry, maybe today you feel prayed out and alone. If it is the former,
you can sing out with praise. However, some of the best singing out with praise I have
seen is when one sings silently in their soul, and simply sits with one who does not
even believe a song can be sung. If it is the latter, reach out to a friend, a mentor,
someone, and be with them so you are not alone.
Sometimes the best way to share our joy is to compassionately be with others
who do not have joy. We get to be with them, and hold joy, until one day, when they
are ready, they can hold joy, too. Then our inner solo of praise can become a duet of joy.
Action Item:
If you spend any time on social media today, take some time to make comments on
other people’s posts. Only say something joyful, though. If you do not have social
media, say something joyful to everyone you meet.
Prayer:
God of joy, I have known glorious days and awful days and every kind of day in between. Give
me praise in the glorious days, perseverance in the awful days, hope in the in-between days, and
joy no matter the day. Amen.
Friday, December 18
Today’s Scripture - Psalm 102
Today’s Reflection:
We cannot run away from the painful realities of our days. This last year, our country
continued to fracture at its very foundations. Most people in our country know at least
one person lost to Covid. This season of joy has been robbed of its traditions which
comfort so many. This psalm does not run away from the pain, because it knows it
can’t.
Life is so very fragile, and simultaneously more precious and of more worth than
we can ever understand. In our fragility, it is right to cry out to God, to wonder if God is
hiding, to beg God to show up, to speak of our lives honestly, unearth the pain we hide
for fear of dealing with it and fear of how others will treat it. This psalm invites us into
the deep realities of Advent. God was not born into an easy world, Christ did not live in
a world void of pain, and since his time there have been far more difficulties that come
and go.
God is also good. The ancient ways of Christ are still enthroned forever. The
Great Servant does not despise the prayers of the needy. Generations yet unborn will
certainly praise God. The world will keep moving until one day when it doesn’t. And
when it doesn’t any longer, we will still be secure in God. I can say still be secure,
because we are secure now, even if it does not feel like it.
Those who can do good amid the painful realities can do so because of the inner
joy that comes with the assurance that they are secure in God. No one can rob a person
of that assurance except themselves. The world may do its worst to you, but never let
go of the assurance that you are the beloved, the beautiful one, the joy of God. This
psalm unearths the day and offers it the joy of being with God.
Jesus went to work in the most painful places. He went toward his death offering
love and forgiveness. How? The joyful security that no matter what happened, God
would raise him up. God will raise you up, too. Joyfully do all the good you can do
until then.
Action Item:
Make a card, remember the artist that your inner child still tells you about. Make it with
all the joy you can muster. Send it to someone you know won’t have many people
around for Christmas. Give them your joy.
Prayer:
God of joy, hear my cries about all that is wrong in the world and in me. Then give me again the
gift of your Son so that I can share his joy in doing what I can. Amen.
Saturday, December 19
Today’s Scripture - John 5:30-47
Today’s Reflection:
In this passage, Jesus was responding to a group of religious people who were upset
with him for healing on the Sabbath. He is explaining that he can heal because it is the
Father who works through him, and thereby the Father who testifies to who he is.
Joy is ours because God rejoices in us. When we try to find joy in things that are
not of God we may experience momentary happiness, we may have lots of fun, we may
find plenty of pleasure, but there is never lasting joy. When we try to find joy by
following a set of rules to get to God, we will think that those who find joy another way
must be wrong, for we will fear that our set of rules is wrong if theirs is right. Jesus
found joy by allowing the light of God to pour from him.
Sick people were healed, hungry people were fed, sinful people were forgiven,
lost people were included, joy abounded in the lives of those for whom the light of joy
was dim and near dead when Jesus arrived. His own light was so strong that it filled
those around him.
Advent is a season of waiting, but waiting while preparing. We prepare for Jesus
through hundreds of small acts of compassion, by forgiving ourselves our failures and
forgiving the failures of others, by allowing that light that still burns from Christ to fill
us and flow from us. In other words, we prepare by doing the work of the One who
sent Jesus.
Giving skyrockets at this time of year. The joy of the season, even in its secular
sense, turns us to examine Christ. Any examination of Christ, when done with even the
tiniest sense of wonder, comes with a baptism of light. That light then flows from us
and we look for ways to share the light. So examine Jesus with whatever wonder you
have. Even the smallest bit of wonder will be enough for you to see the joy of God.
Action Item:
Look at your budget. What is one thing you spend money on that you can do without
next year. Give it up, and choose to give that money you save to a church or charity. It
will be your joy offering.
Prayer:
God of joy, turn my eyes toward Jesus that I may see his light in the darkest of places. Amen.
The Fourth Week of Advent - Peace
Sunday, December 20
Today’s Scripture - Luke 1:5-25
Today’s Reflection:
The story of Christmas begins as a story of surprises. They are not unfamiliar surprises
to the Jewish people. The stories of children born to barren couples like Abraham and
Sarah, Jacob and Rachel, and Elkanah and Hannah were all Old Testament stories that a
priest like Zechariah knew. But they were old stories from old books. Certainly too
fanciful and absurd to be real for anyone like him. His world was fixed. He and
Elizabeth were not going to have any children, he even thought he was at peace with it.
Isaac, Joseph, and Samuel were gifts for people long ago, not for him.
Then Gabriel showed up when Zechariah was offering incense where God’s
presence was most real in the temple and told the old man, “Zechariah, you’re going to
be a dad.” He didn’t believe it, and so he didn’t get to say a word until the baby was
circumcised and named. He had to spend time in silence and think about what God was
doing.
His wife, Elizabeth, took time in silence, too, when for five months she just kept
herself away from others and thought, “Look what God has done for me!” When John
was finally born and named, his father burst out rejoicing like a madman howling at the
moon, ranting about how God was going to use his boy “to guide our feet into the way
of peace.”
Spending time in silence cultivates our inner peace, and allows us to consider
what God is doing, even if it seems too surprising to be true. Only those who have inner
peace are able to help bring about the peace of the Prince of Peace. For to know that
God brings us peace within, means that others can know this, too. We may well be the
ones to guide their feet in the way of peace. First, silently, we must discover it within
ourselves, however.
Action Item:
We get so busy around this time of year that sometimes we don’t take time to be at
peace within. Think of something you can say “no” to today. Instead, spend time in
silence and see what God is doing.
Prayer:
God of peace, silence within me the endless chatter of my mind that worries over everything.
Allow me to get lost in you and know your peace, that peacefully I become a peacemaker in this
world. Amen.
Monday, December 21
Today’s Scripture - Isaiah 29:9-24
Today’s Reflection:
Often, when we think of peace, we think of peace in our world that is terrorized by
greed, hate, and violence. So much of the news describes the lack of peace in the world.
Normally, at this time of year, we use our time in church to wonder when peace will
come. We pray, “Come, Lord Jesus, our Prince of peace, and bring peace!”
All the while, inside ourselves there is no peace, either. We are at war with the
voices in our own heads that say we are not good enough, that we are failures,
mistakes, unlovable. There can be no peace without until there is peace within. Jesus
was the rare soul who had peace within. He offers us that same peace.
Isaiah shares the words he heard from the mouth of God. God said that the Holy
One will do amazing things. The wisdom of those who think they are wise shall perish.
Those who think they do not come from God will be astounded by the God they didn’t
know they had. The deaf shall hear. The blind shall see. The meek shall know joy, and
the needy shall sing praises. Tyrants shall be no more. Justice shall reign. Finally, peace
will cover the world.
But Isaiah does not end there. People will no longer be ashamed. When we see
children, we will see the work of God’s hands. Those who erred will understand, and
those who grumbled will submit to God. This is inner peace.
God promises both inner peace and world peace. In the person of Jesus we see
how inner peace begets world peace. Jesus knew who he was, and nothing done to him
could change that. The temptations from the devil, the temptations from disciples who
wanted him to fight, the temptation to save himself, nothing swayed him from knowing
who he was because he was at peace.
You are the beautiful beloved child of God, nothing else and nothing less. Hold
this peace today and submit to God’s desire and be instructed as to how you can help
create peace in this world.
Action Item:
Write a love letter from God to you. Pray, asking God what you should write. Consider
it your Christmas gift to yourself this year.
Prayer:
God of peace, I open my worrying and warring heart to you again. Pry open the gates to my
heart if I try to keep them shut. Fill my broken love with your perfect love that I may be healed
and work to heal the world in whatever little way I am called. Amen.
Tuesday, December 22
Today’s Scripture - Revelation 21:22-22:5
Today’s Reflection:
When we approach the last two chapters of the Bible we do so with awe. Awe is not
indicative of the trite way we use the word “awesome,” but something that is more like
wonder and reverential fear. The word “awe” is the root of both “awesome” and
“awful.” Both words suggest something so wonderful and terrible that we are shaken to
our core.
It is why we can sigh at the wonder of holding a child, our child, for the first
time, “Wow,” and realize life will never be the same. It is both beautiful and scary. I
remember my father telling me stories of bringing me home. I was the first born child of
my young parents. When he held me for the first time, he was terrified by the prospect
of having his baby at home. He was also in love. It was awesome and awful.
I only came to understand what he meant when I held my firstborn. There are
such moments in life that we approach with awe because, however wonderful we know
they are, they also terrify us because they change everything.
Our Advent journey is getting close to its purpose, which is the movement from
the anticipation to the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. We
take this journey every year to remind us that we need, continually, to be born with him
again. We get to be born into total light, into a life where there is no night, where the
river of life flows through our days and our living. In the life of Jesus, heaven and earth
became one in a way that cannot be reversed or stopped.
God’s vision of creation will come to pass, and already has. Christmas is our
yearly invitation to live into it here, even though it is not all the way yet. This is
wonderful and terrifying. It is also the dream of God’s Shalom that has been awakening
since Christ was born. Dare we hold him this year and realize he is ours to take home?
Dare we not?
Action Item:
Do something that costs nothing today, but is amazing. Take a hike, a drive, meditate
on the beginning of creation, do something that is free because it’s priceless.
Prayer:
God of peace, I am coming to understand that in my waiting for your peace I am preparing
myself for a life that is totally transformed. Empower me to live that life now. Amen.
Wednesday, December 23
Today’s Scripture - Isaiah 33:17-22
Today’s Reflection:
Isaiah’s vision of what will be is sandwiched between him sharing his sincerest belief
that we will see the King in his beauty, and that God is our King, and it is God who will
save us. This is the foundation of all peace. Our inner peace only exists because of the
inner knowledge that we will see divinity and beauty everywhere.
The one who is at peace sees beauty everywhere, and knows that all that is truly
ugly is hate, and its children, violence and greed and ignorance. The one who is at
peace also knows that hate cannot stop hate. Jesus told us to love in the face of hate,
because only love can stop hate. The one who is at peace lives in love, and knows that
God will save those who live in love. They therefore live their life for God, they call
themselves slaves to Christ, followers of the Way, and Christians.
The word “Christian” comes from the Greek word “Christos,” combined with a
Latin suffix that means “belonging to.” This belonging to connotes that we are owned
by the Christ. This is the King we are awaiting. The One born over 2000 years ago and
who has come again, and again, and again, and will come again. Each Christmas we
celebrate that he comes again right now. He demands our lives, having given his life for
us so that we know our lives are his. He chose all of us, and chooses us still.
To accept his eternal choice of us, is to give ourselves to him. Should everyone
accept his choice of them, there would be no more injustice, no more hate, and no more
war. Some may call me naive. I’m not; it is the promise of God that Isaiah knew, too,
and that Christmas makes real.
Action Item:
Think of someone who doesn’t like you. Write them a letter telling them what you like
about them. You don’t have to send it, but simply writing such a letter will help love
conquer hate.
Prayer:
God of peace, in the face of any way I have ever chosen hate, you loved me and you chose me.
Help me choose you, too, this Christmas. Help me choose you all the way. Amen.
Christmas Eve
Thursday, December 24
Today’s Scripture - Philippians 2:5-11
Today’s Reflection:
Christmas Eve is here. Our celebrations begin in full today. All of our preparation has
led us to this moment when we celebrate the birth of the One, who, as Paul said in
today’s Scripture, “though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited, but emptied himself and took on the form of a slave, only
to be lifted up by God and given the name above every name.”
We remember that he was born a refugee. His mother had no bed to lie in. At
best, dirty hay was what Mary found as comfort from the ground and filth. We do not
worship a Lord that is powerful and mighty as we think of power and might. We
worship the One who came in such humble peace that in the twenty centuries that have
passed, it still doesn’t make sense. But we know that in doing so he lit the first candle of
Christmas.
Now we are those who follow him. Certainly we have not been perfect followers,
but the past, our whole lives, have only led us to this strange moment during this hard
year. We are lighting our candles of Christmas, and we will keep them lit the whole
year long. Remember how Scrooge kept Christmas in his heart all the time, after the
visitation from those three spirits? All of his life led him to that moment, too.
Let your ego go. Abandon your pride. Learn from the One who is gentle and
humble of heart. Keep that candle lit and be at peace. Later in this letter, Paul would call
it the peace that surpasses understanding. Much like we cannot fully understand that
God would show up like Jesus did, and die like Jesus died, and be exalted like Jesus is,
there is peace we cannot understand. Regardless of whether or not we can understand
it, it is ours. Rejoice, dear soul, rejoice!
Action Item:
Figure out some way to be a part of a Christmas Eve service. Online, by calling some
family and reading the familiar Scriptures, or anything else. It does not matter if it is not
grand, the first Christmas wasn’t grand either.
Prayer:
God of peace, on this eve of the birth of your Son, help me let go of my ego that tells me I can only
celebrate you in familiar ways. May the new and humble ways I celebrate you be a gift to those
who come after me, as they will be to me. Amen.
Christmas Day
Friday, December 25
Today’s Scripture - John 1:1-14
Today’s Reflection:
Normally I wouldn’t bother to write a Christmas Day devotional. I figure most people
get too busy to bother with it. But this year is different. We haven’t run from the
realities of our days during this Advent journey, and we cannot run from them this
Christmas, either.
So we will not run, but neither will we give up. What came into the world was
life, and the life was the light of all people. That light still shines in the darkness, and
the darkness does not overcome it. Jesus calls us the light of the world. Paul calls us
children of the light. When we receive him, this is what we become. Then we are born
not of the flesh, or the will of people, but of God. The eternal Word, the Light, became
flesh and it lived and still lives among us, full of grace and truth.
Receive him, be born of him, and live as light made flesh, full of grace and truth.
Light the candles of Christmas and do not extinguish them. Light the candle of hope,
love, joy, peace, and Christ. These are God’s gifts to us, and our gifts to give to others. It
is Christmas Day and we never have to be the same.
The world may seem covered in darkness as we cannot have traditional
Christmas celebrations, as people are dying, as politics continue to divide, as hate
breeds hate, but we have received the Christ, the Prince of Peace, the Light of lights, the
One no darkness can overcome. Do not put him away with the decorations. Use that
sacred place in your home and in your heart to worship him endlessly. Use the temple
that is body, mind, heart, and soul so that the presence of God pours from you.
Wouldn’t it be something if this Christmas, instead of simply giving and
receiving gifts for a day, we became the gift God desires for this world? Let’s find out
what it will be like!
Action Item:
Celebrate Christmas with all the hope, love, joy, and peace you can. Do it everyday.
Prayer:
God of Christmas, be born anew in me today, that a world awaiting you may find you in me.
Amen.