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MEDITATION:

Written by Craig Denison, a contemporary Christian author and speaker. This is an excerpt from his daily devotional “First 15.”

Harmony in music is this beautiful, fleeting occurrence that most singers and musicians work their entire lives to continuously experience. It requires diligence, patience, humility, and unity between people pursuing the same goal of making beautiful music. And when musical harmony is achieved, it touches not only those singing or playing, but everyone listening as well. Living in harmony with one another in everyday life isn’t too different than musical harmony. For most of us it’s a target just as elusive and fleeting. But like musical harmony, it’s worth fighting for. Like musical harmony, it produces joy and life in those who pursue it and touches those around them. All throughout the New Testament, we find exhortations to live life in unified, harmonious community. Scripture is clear that unity in the body is foundational to the Christian life…harmony requires humility, grace, the pursuit of peace, not fighting for our own justice, and blessing those who hurt us. What would our communities, churches, and families look like if we all committed ourselves to these virtues? What would your relationships look like if you strived to obey these commands? God doesn’t ask you and me to pursue these virtues; he commands us. It is a command because God knows that pursuing a life lived in harmony with one another will lead us to the abundance of joy, peace, and purpose we are created to experience. As our good Father, he wants his children to experience the peace that can only come from living in harmony with one another.

PRAYER:

Written by Germaine Copeland, contemporary pastor and author.  This prayer is an excerpt from her book “Prayers that Avail Much.”

Holy Spirit, teach us how to agree (harmonize together, together make a symphony) — about anything and everything — so that whatever we ask will come to pass and be done for us by our Father in heaven.

We pray that as members of the Body of Christ we will live as becomes us — with complete lowliness of mind (humility) and meekness (unselfishness, gentleness, mildness), with patience, bearing with one another and making allowances because we love one another. In the name of Jesus, we are eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Amy Carroll, a contemporary Christian author. This is an excerpt from her devotion “Being Right Doesn’t Mean I’m Righteous.”

God is filling me with a simple prayer: Lord, please make me completely righteous and not a bit self-righteous. The word righteous means, “acting in accord with divine and moral law, free from guilt or sin” according to Webster. But being righteous and looking righteous are two different things. Looking righteous is something I’ve mastered. I know how to follow the rules, play the game and fit into the church crowd. Maybe you’re like me and are wired to work hard to get things done “right.” I like to please my peers and check items off my to-do list. Often it wins me the approval I crave. I get pats on the back, and it all looks good on the outside. But on the inside — in the quiet moments — I can find myself exhausted. Defeated. Numb. Those feelings let me know I’ve crossed from being righteous through Christ into trying to earn righteousness myself. Sometimes my self-righteousness leaks out and reveals its ugliness through judgmental thoughts and attitudes towards others. That’s when I find myself looking down my nose at those struggling while thinking I have it together or snapping with impatience when someone delays my next task. … To maintain the right heart, God asks us to keep returning to our first love with Him. To rediscover the newness, lightness and joy we felt at first. He urges us to constantly rekindle passion for Him, which will deepen our love for Him and others. The beautiful part is God doesn’t call us to love without Him setting the ultimate example. His love is “wide and long and high and deep” (Ephesians 3:18, NIV), and it surpasses our thoughts and the works done in our own strength. Pursuing righteousness solely through good works is an empty endeavor, always leaving us impossibly short of the goal. Returning to our first love ensures full righteousness as we follow Jesus, for He is our righteousness… True righteousness creates more love for God and others. It’s a beautiful cycle, and it’s a goal that transforms us.

PRAYER:

John Chrysostom (AD 347-407), theologian and archbishop of Constantinople.

O my all-merciful God and Lord, Jesus Christ, full of pity: through Your great love You came down and became incarnate in order to save everyone. O Savior, I ask You to save me by Your grace! If You save anyone because of their works, that would not be grace but only reward of duty, but You are compassionate and full of mercy! You said, O my Christ, “Whoever believes in Me shall live and never die.” If then, faith in You saves the lost, then save me, O my God and Creator, for I believe. Let faith and not my unworthy works be counted to me, O my God, for You will find no works which could account me righteous. O Lord, from now on let me love You as intensely as I have loved sin, and work for You as hard as I once worked for the evil one. I promise that I will work to do Your will, my Lord and God, Jesus Christ, all the days of my life and forevermore.

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MEDITATION:

Written by A.W. Tozer (1897-1963), an American Christian pastor, author, magazine editor, and spiritual mentor. This is an excerpt from his devotional “Jesus, Our Man in Glory.”

These basic concepts — the mysteries of creation and God’s unity forever displayed in His works—are not new. They were believed by the great Christian souls and minds of the earlier centuries. One of the notable Scottish Moravian authors was James Montgomery. Out of his writing comes this beautiful poem expressing the unity he sensed in God’s creation:  “The glorious universe around, The heavens with all their train, Sun, moon and stars are firmly bound In one mysterious chain. The earth, the ocean, and the sky To form one world agree; Where all that walk or swim or fly Compose one family. God in creation must display His wisdom and His might; Where all His works with all His ways Harmoniously unite.”

Montgomery’s use of the word harmoniously is impressive. It affirms that finally, when sin has been purged from God’s universe, everything in creation will be consummated with everything else. There will be universal cosmic harmony. We are only too aware that the universe as we know it is in discord. On every side sounds the raucous rattle of sin. But in that coming day sin will be purged away and all things that walk, creep, crawl, swim or fly will be found to comprise one family indeed.

PRAYER:

From the Mozarabic Breviary, also called the Visigothic Rite or the Hispanic Rite, is a liturgical rite of the Latin Church once used generally in the Iberian Peninsula (Hispania), in what is now Spain and Portugal.  Developed during Visigoth (Arian Christian) rule of the Iberian peninsula  in the 500s AD.

O God, you are peace eternal.

Your gift is peace.

You have taught us

that your children will be called peacemakers.

Pour out your peace into our souls

that all discord may vanish away,

and that we may forever love and seek

the things that bring your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Dennis Fisher, a retired contemporary professor of evangelism.

I love playing the 5-string banjo. But it has one drawback. The fifth string will harmonize with only a limited number of simple chords. When other musicians want to play more complicated music, the banjoist has to adapt. He can lend marvelous melodic tones to a jam session only by making the right adjustments. Just as musicians adjust with their instruments, we as believers also need to make adjustments with our spiritual gifts if we want to harmonize with others to serve God. For instance, those who have the gift of teaching must coordinate with those who have the gift of organizing meetings and with those who make sure meeting rooms are set up and cleaned. All of us have spiritual gifts, and we must work together if God’s work is to get done. Think about your spiritual gifts. Now reflect on how you can dovetail their use with the gifts of other believers. When our talents are used in a complementary way, the result is harmony and glory to God.

PRAYER:

From the Gelasian Sacramentary, a book of Christian liturgy, which is the oldest western liturgical book that has survived.  The book is linked to Pope Gelasius I. It was compiled near Paris around 750.

listen

kindle our souls by your Spirit,

that being filled with your divine gifts,

we may shine like blazing lamps

in the presence of your Son Christ at his coming; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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MEDITATION:

Written by Jill Briscoe, a retired contemporary professor of evangelism.  This is an excerpt from her work, “The Art of Getting Along.”

Harmony is concord or agreement. Another word for harmony is “peace”–and making peace is often very hard work.  Achieving harmony is hard, but being a peacekeeper once a truce is declared is even harder. It’s a spiritual art.  The testimony of a community of believers often hangs on the ability of its members to live in harmony and to keep the peace once it is made. Paul appeals to leaders and followers alike to be sensitive to the Spirit’s directives and to become ambassadors for unity. The art of “keeping the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace,” in Ephesians 4:3, requires believers who are characterized by humility, persistence, and a passion for the body of Christ. We give God honor when we pursue harmony.  Sadly, other human beings are our biggest obstacles when it comes to practicing the spiritual art of harmony. Sometimes it seems as though the church would be a great place if we could get rid of the people! But how do we do church with people? How do we get everyone to love or even tolerate one another? How do we bring the Baptist and the Episcopalian together? The Methodist and the Presbyterian? The Lutheran and the Catholic? And how do we achieve harmony beyond the wall of the church in all creeds, classes, and groupings of people? Between Jews and Arabs, for instance? Between men and women? African-Americans and Caucasians? How do we respect each other’s traditions and cultures without reacting defensively and adopting a segregating mindset instead of an inclusionary one? Paul knew of only two ways: to ground all relationships in the one relationship all believers have with the Lord Jesus Christ, and to rely on the power of the one Spirit who lives in all believers to maintain unity… Discord within the body of Christ is a key reason why many people don’t go to church. As a follower of Christ, does the fact that our lack of unity drives people away from church bother you? It should. It bothered Paul, and he always tried to be part of the solution.

PRAYER:

Written by Scotty Smith, a contemporary American pastor.

Father, grant us grace and wisdom for our messiest of relationships, but also for the best of our relationships—for none of our relationships is beyond the reach or need of your grace. Help us to be the chief repenter in all of our relationships—the one most desirous of reconnecting, the quickest to humble ourselves, the one most bull-dogged committed to harmony. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ tender and triumphant name.

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MEDITATION:

Written by George Vink, a contemporary American pastor.

Wise believers acknowledge that when Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another” (John 13:34), this was not simply a suggestion for getting along. So too, the Bible’s commands as to how we treat one another shouldn’t be considered optional. That’s not the nature of God’s commands. As Christ’s followers, we must remember how our relationship with God affects our relationships with each other. When we pray, “Our Father,” we acknowledge that we are part of a family that includes sisters and brothers. We’re called to live in harmony together. There are specific ways of doing so, such as honoring one another above ourselves, holding to what is good, praying faithfully, sharing with people in need, showing hospitality, and not being proud. When believers live in harmony, expressing their love for one another by sharing tears in times of sorrow and expanding their joy by celebrating together, they become appealing witnesses to their hope in Christ. When a coworker observes, “It’s amazing how you guys love each other,” the cause of Christ moves forward. Jesus taught this when he prayed that all believers “may be one” and “may be brought to complete unity. Then,” he said to the Father, “the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:22-23).

PRAYER:

Written by Germaine Copeland, contemporary pastor and author.  This prayer is an excerpt from her book “Prayers that Avail Much.”

We commit, in the name of Jesus, and according to the power of God at work in us, to be of one and the same mind (united in spirit), sympathizing [with one another], loving [each the others] as brethren (of one household), compassionate and courteous — tenderhearted and humble-minded. We will never return evil for evil or insult for insult — scolding, tongue-lashing, berating; but, on the contrary, blessing — praying for their welfare, happiness and protection and truly pitying and loving one another. For we know that to this we have been called, that we may ourselves inherit a blessing [from God] — obtain a blessing as heirs, bringing welfare and happiness and protection. Amen.

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Close your eyes, breathe, and clear your mind. Be still. Center your scattered senses on God’s presence.

SCRIPTURE: Matthew 2:1-2

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

CHRISTMASTIDE REFLECTION

Epiphany, the Festival of Light, commemorates the day the wise men arrived to worship the baby Jesus. The twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany are not derived from the Bible directly, but Epiphany and Christmas arose together (particularly in the Eastern Church), to commemorate the coming of Christ into the world. Epiphany does not just happen to follow Christmas, but, rather, it completes it: Christ enters into the world and is then proclaimed to it. The shepherds are the first to receive the Good News of the Messiah on Christmas night, followed by the wise men on Epiphany. The wise men symbolize Christ manifested to all the nations, Jew and Gentile. Traditionally the holiday is celebrated with a suitable and increased display of lights. In many cultures it is also a time of blessing of the home, where lintels have the cross of salvation, together with the indication of the year and the initials of the Magi (Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar (CMB) written in chalk. Children, accompanied by parents, process through the neighborhood, expressing the blessing of Christ through the intercession of the three wise men, and gather offerings for charitable and missionary purposes.  Dating from a time when calendars were not readily available, Epiphany also served as the traditional day where the date of Easter, and other liturgical celebrations without a fixed day, were announced for the year.

COLLECT:  Written by Collects are short general prayers used in Christian liturgy to draw our focus of worship.  The collect today is from the PC-USA Book of Common Worship.

Eternal God, by a star you led magi to the worship of your Son. Guide the nations of the earth by your light, that the whole world may see your glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Click on the link to see and hear the music video.

MUSIC VIDEO:  Morman Tabernacle Choir: As With Gladness Men of Old

IMAGE: El Greco: Adoration of the Magi

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Close your eyes, breathe, and clear your mind. Be still. Center your scattered senses on God’s presence.

SCRIPTURE: 1 Timothy 3:16

Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.

CHRISTMASTIDE REFLECTION

Twelfth Night (Epiphany Eve) is a traditional Christian festival on the last night of the twelve days of Christmas. While in our American culture, we have often already put Christmas behind us, traditionally Christmas culminated on this night. Christmas was marked by midnight mass and family meals, but Twelfth Night was comprised of more public events and social gatherings.  It has been celebrated for hundreds of years and known as a night of food, wine, hijinks, plays, and king cake. The king cake was placed in the center of a table. Everyone would take a piece of the cake and whoever had a slice with a hidden bean would be royalty for one day, no matter their position.  While the Christmas season is ending, we shouldn’t be gloomy or unhappy – Twelfth night is the last hurrah of Christmas. We should remind ourselves of the joy of the Christmas season – in giving, in gathering with family and friends, and in the glory and wonder of the God incarnate. For one more night, it can still be Christmas.

COLLECT:  Written by Collects are short general prayers used in Christian liturgy to draw our focus of worship.  The collect today is from a collection of contemporary collects in the Book of Common Prayer

Eternal God, a thousand years in your sight are like a watch in the night. As you have led us in days past, so guide us now and always, that our hearts may learn to choose your will, and new resolves be strengthened; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. 

Click on the link to see and hear the music video.

MUSIC VIDEO:  Portland Choir and Orchestra: Ding Dong Merrily on High

IMAGE: Robert Herrick: Twelfth Night (King and Queen)

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Close your eyes, breathe, and clear your mind. Be still. Center your scattered senses on God’s presence.

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 72:18-19

Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen.

CHRISTMASTIDE REFLECTION

As we continue in our celebration of the incarnation of Christ during Christmastide, we can identify with the angels who proclaim “Glory to God in the Highest.” Celebrating Christmas as an extended season can help us reflect on the meaning of Jesus’ life, our understanding of God, and the Kingdom message God sends Emmanuel (God With Us). God proclaimed his glorious arrival to the shepherds as they went about their normal routine, watching their flocks at night. During this season, ask God to open your eyes to seeing the grace of God at work in the world – perhaps through natural wonder, or perhaps through the lives of others. How can we see and worship the glory that Christ has brought to the world in our daily lives?

COLLECT:  Written by Collects are short general prayers used in Christian liturgy to draw our focus of worship.  The collect today is from the Book of Common Prayer.

Almighty God our heavenly Father, you declare your glory and show forth your handiwork in the heavens and in the earth: Deliver us in our various occupations from the service of self alone, that we may do the work you give us to do in truth and beauty and for the common good; for the sake of him who came among us as one who serves, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen. 

Click on the link to see and hear the music video.

MUSIC VIDEO:  Kings College Choir: While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night

IMAGE: Tiffany Studios:  While Shepherds Watched

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Close your eyes, breathe, and clear your mind. Be still. Center your scattered senses on God’s presence.

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 98:1-3

Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

CHRISTMASTIDE REFLECTION

The Advent and Christmastide seasons provide a unique opportunity for us to proclaim God’s kingdom far and wide. We are called to bear witness to the Gospel.  What better time of year than this to do so? While we may have already begun putting away the “trappings of Christmas” – the tree and the lights and the holiday decorations – the goal is to embrace the fullness of Christ incarnate in our daily lives.  Through the saving and redeeming work of the Incarnation of Christ, we receive the magnificent gift of salvation.  And this is a gift that we are called to share with all we know and love.  Reflect today on how we can allow the light of Jesus to lead us in His way as we approach a new year. 

COLLECT:  Written by Collects are short general prayers used in Christian liturgy to draw our focus of worship.  The collect today is from the 1928 Episcopal Book of Common Prayer.

Almighty God, who has poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word; Grant that the same light enkindled in our hearts may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Click on the link to see and hear the music video.

MUSIC VIDEO:  Audrey Assad: Lead Kindly Light

IMAGE: Alina-Kurbiel: Bethlehem

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