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Today’s meditation is from the Senior Living Ministries website.

MEDITATION:

Each year at this time, thousands of people stand in the cold in Times Square, New York. No big event beckons them. No ballgame is being played. No rock concert is getting underway. It’s simply a huge, lighted ball that drops from a tall building. And within a few seconds, hardly worth fighting traffic and crowd pushing for, it descends marking a new year. Why has this nonevent turned into a huge, money-making holiday? Most other holidays celebrate a reputable person, famous birthdays, document signings, or a noted event. But New Year’s Eve only celebrates the passage of time—something that most of us would rather not recognize. We make a huge deal out of it because it signals the end of an old era and the start of a new one.

The old year’s problems, heartaches, and struggles seem to vanish and become a faded memory when we think of getting the chance of a new year and a new start. It must have been the same way for the Israelites when they stood with Joshua looking forward to a new era ahead of them. They had wandered for 40 years in the desert, and finally they could see land flowing with milk and honey ahead. Better yet, they had God’s promise that He would never leave or forsake them. As you stand with your back to the old year and look forward to the new one, you can have hope in the promises of God. You will certainly face both trying and joyful times ahead, but you can rest assured that He “will never leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5). That promise is enough to celebrate the new year ahead!

PRAYER

Today’s prayer is from the Mozarabic Breviary, 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, your days are without beginning and without end. We dedicate this coming year to you. Give us such prosperity as you know is good for us, and make us abound in doing whatever is pleasing to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Written by Costa Stathakis, a contemporary Australian minister and author. This is from his work  “God’s Purpose for Our lives,” which was published in “The Upper Room Disciplines in 1999.”

MEDITATION:

We live in an age of instant answers; we want the Lord to reveal God’s plan for us immediately in response to our prayers. The psalmist suggests just the opposite. The psalmist speaks of waiting on God: “I waited patiently for the LORD.” The psalmist, like many of us, was probably not very good at waiting. The psalm;s last words indicate a desire for immediate relief: “O my God, do not delay” (Psalm 40:17). God’s purpose for our lives unfolds gradually as a tree grows into fullness. It cannot be forced or achieved overnight. Jesus himself pointed out that the beauty of lilies does ont result from their own efforts,  for “they neither toil nor spin.” Their growth comes about by their yielding to the friendship of the sun and the rain in purposeful waiting.

PRAYER

Written by Kimberly Matthews, a certified lay minister and author.

Creator God, who stretches a hand across the heavens and spreads the stars in the sky, meet us in our waiting.

Loving Son, who came and comes and will come, come today and meet us in our waiting.

Abiding Spirit, who waits with us, speak to us in our waiting.

Loving God, grant us the courage to wait for you and the grace to realize you wait for us.

Amen. 

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Written by author Norman Shawchuck (1035-2011), Methodist bishop Rueben Job (1928-2015), and contemporary author Robert Doherty. This is an excerpt from their book “How to Conduct a Spiritual Life Retreat.”

MEDITATION:

The basic foundation for all spiritual growth is God’s loving gift of Jesus. Through God’s promises and initiatives, God assures us that we are already loved just as we are. We don’t have to go anywhere or do anything to gain God’s love. This love is unconditional and unmerited. To fall into the hands of God is to fall into the arms of unfailing love (Micah 7:18-19). There is a divine initiative in our every encounter with God. Even before we knew our Creator, God loved us. Even before we turned to look toward God, God was moving toward us. Our faintest yearning for God is assurance that God is already longing for us. Our first feeble step toward God is possible only because God has already been moving toward us, drawing us nearer by the divine magnet-heart of love.

PRAYER

Today’s prayer is from Irenaeus of Lyons (130-??), a Greek bishop and theologist noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France.

I appeal to you, Lord, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob and Israel, You the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Infinitely merciful as You are, it is Your will that we should learn to know You. You made heaven and earth, You rule supreme over all that is. You are the true, the only God; there is no other god above You.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ…and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, grant that all who read what I have written here may know You, because You alone are God; let them draw strength from You; keep them from all teaching that is heretical, irreligious or godless.

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Written by Carolyn Arends, a contemporary author, recording artist, and director of education at Renovare.

MEDITATION:

A few years ago I came across a Latin phrase adapted by Martin Luther from the thinking of Augustine to describe the human condition. We are born, Luther says, incurvatus in se, curved in on ourselves. In his Lectures on Romans, Luther argues that the Bible “describes man as curved in upon himself to such an extent that he bends not only physical, but also spiritual goods toward himself, seeking himself in all things.” It’s a striking picture, every human walking the planet tragically bent, seemingly hopelessly deformed by the self-centeredness we inherited from our original parents. We were made to stand tall, eyes fixed on God, arms open to one another, but instead we are incurvatus in se. When I’m struggling to understand the travesties that checker human history (or why I was terse yesterday with someone I love), I can begin by working out the implications of our incurvation. Luther is not describing our bodily posture, of course, but my battle to stand upright seems an apt metaphor. Usually I’m not even aware I’m slouching. In a similar way we are so habituated to our spiritual deformity that we often can’t detect it. “By fault of the first sin,” Luther laments, we are “bound to darkness in all thinking and feeling.”…My best teachers in the Christian life remind me spiritual formation is the slowest of all possible human movements. Jesus will unbend us, if we’ll let Him, but it will take surrender, practice, and time to become habituated to a new way of moving through the world. But that’s not to say we can’t have breakthroughs.  Recently I worked up the courage to ask a physiotherapist for help [with my posture]. “Most people,” he said, “focus on their backs, but poor posture actually has more to do with tightness in your chest which is pulling you inward. Regularly stretch your pectoral muscles, and you should gradually notice a real difference.” So now, every morning, I stand with my arms pressed against the frame of my bathroom door, opening up my carriage in a stretch that hurts, but helps. It turns out some of my muscles must learn to let go as much as others need to strengthen. And here’s the thing. This morning, catching a glimpse of myself stretching in the mirror, I recognized with a shock that the recommended position is undeniably cruciform. It occurred to me a person stretched upon a cross can’t help but be upright and open, the opposite of incurvatus in se. Maybe this is part of the reason Jesus invites us to take up His cross. He’s unbending us, teaching us to stretch out our lives in a cruciform shape of self-giving. “Nature is not capable of this,” Luther says, and I know he’s right. I was born with rounded shoulders and a bent nature. And left to my own devices, I can’t change either. But Luther doesn’t stop there. “Nature is not capable of this, but only grace is, namely the grace that is given by faith in Christ through the Holy Spirit.” The changes are slow, and the stretching hurts. Still, day by day I am learning to co-operate with the grace that is unbending me.

PRAYER:

Today’s prayer is from the Gregorian Sacramentary, a 10^th century illuminated Latin manuscript ascribed to Gregory 1.

 Almighty God who seest that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves; keep us both outwardly in our bodies, and inwardly in our souls; that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Written by Trevor Hudson, a contemporary South African pastor, author, and speaker. This is an excerpt from his book “Seeking God.”

MEDITATION:

I am sure you are familiar with God’s word that comes from the prophet, Ezekiel; “I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). These words remind us that our heart has many stony bits and pieces. This hardness can range from dark feelings of uncaring, or anger and arrogance towards those in need around us, to deeply ingrained prejudices towards those different in class, culture, and color.  Sometimes this hardness of heart exists even in our most intimate relationships. We simply become unresponsive and withdrawn. Looking back, I realize that my greatest failures have been failures in compassion towards those I love most deeply.  If we want God’s compassion to flow through us, we must face honestly our hard hearts. Otherwise, they will not become hearts of flesh.  We cannot change our own hard hearts. What we can do is acknowledge our stony bits and pieces, bring them to Christ, and share them with him, as honestly as we can. Wonderfully, our compassionate God meets us in our hardness, welcomes us as we are, and offers us, with crucified hands, the gifts of loving forgiveness and transformative grace. Our hard hearts become softer. How would you describe the stony bits and pieces of your own heart?

PRAYER:

Written by Trevor Hudson, author of today’s devotional.

  Lord Jesus Christ, give me the grace to be with you in your suffering on the cross and whatever you suffer today. Free me from my tendency towards self-absorption, self-centeredness, and self-interest, so that space can be created for your compassion to flow into me and through me. Help me to freely lay down my life, with the same Spirit in which you gave up your life for me, that I may take up whatever fuller and richer life you have prepared for me. And I confess that I do not find this easy. Please renew within my heart the assurance that your compassion is like a mother’s womb love that will never forget me, no matter what happens. Help me now, by your Spirit, to enter your sacred mystery of dying to live, that I may be the fruit of divine compassion towards each person in my life. May my heartbeat echo yours only. Amen.

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Today’s devotional is from Theodyssey, an organization for growing spiritual leaders. It is from their devotional series “Heart’s Desire.”

MEDITATION:

Poverty forced a young Nicholas Herman into joining the army for survival. A war injury and a failed attempt as a footman led him to join a monastery in Paris where, as Brother Lawrence, he could “suffer for his failures.”  Throughout his day, whether cooking, cleaning floors, or mending sandals, he simply glanced over and noticed God with the eyes of his heart. Like a parent continually aware of the whereabouts of a toddler (whether at church or in a shopping mall), Brother Lawrence became mindful of the nearness of God in all of his daily activities.   In his classic book, Practicing the Presence of God, he wrote about how to return the gaze of God and remember him in the ordinary moments of the day. He called these occasions “little interior glances.” “Little interior glances” are moments of remembering, noticing, or seeking God’s presence in the midst of whatever is. It might be a memory, the sensation of hope, awareness of an abiding Presence, or subtle joy at being alive. Like air bubbles surfacing from the bottom of a fish tank, these noticings emerge into our conscious awareness within the ordinary activities of our daily lives.  “Little interior glances” are responses to our heart’s desire, feeding and encouraging the soul, pointing us toward home. The length or form of these times is not as important as how often you can find them. How often you find them is not as important as finding them at least now and then. And even finding them now and then is not as important as wanting them. Pray for them. And, as best you can, remember how much you want them.

PRAYER:

Written by Richard of Chichester (1197-1253) an English priest and later elected as the Bishop of Chichester, but Henry III would not recognize him.

 Awaken, O Lord Jesus, our hearts and minds to your presence in the world of your love’s creating. Forbid that we should stumble through this day oblivious to the wonder in the ordinary. With your grace, startle us into faith’s perception of your continuing creation in our lives. Amen.

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Today’s devotional was written by M.S. Lowndes, a contemporary Christian songwriter, poet, and author.

MEDITATION:

The events leading up to the birth of Christ weren’t coincidental but were put in place by God, so that the prophecies of old would be fulfilled, in Isaiah 7: 13-14. Isaiah 9: 6-7, and Micah 5: 2-5. Everything that happened, from the time the census was ordered, to everyone returning to their own city to be registered, and then the birth of Jesus while Joseph & Mary were in Bethlehem, was orchestrated by God. Out of Bethlehem, a small town in the City of David, came the Messiah. This event was the beginning of something so incredible. Jesus Christ left His throne in glory and took on human form just to bring us reconciliation to our Father God. He came into the world, miraculously conceived, and then born as all humans are. He was first a baby, then became a toddler, then grew into a child and went through adolescence before becoming an adult. He experienced humanity at all levels. He truly can identify with all people at all stages of life. This very first Christmas, God gave the greatest gift ever. His Son! And His Son gave the gift of His life – which was why He came. Because of this, we can have relationship with God as His children. Through Jesus Christ, we are Sons and Daughters of the Most High God. So this Christmas, bear in mind the ‘True’ Christmas story, which led to the ‘True’ Easter story. Let us give thanks and praise to our heavenly Father for these events, which have changed our lives forever.
 No matter how ‘secular’ the world is becoming, disregarding the truth of Christmas, let us boldly proclaim the truth about the birth of Jesus as the reason for the season.

PRAYER:

Written by Emilie Griffin (1936-2022), an American author.

Lord, give me hope. Let me see your providential hand at work in every corner of society. And let me be refreshed by the innocence of children, Lord Jesus. Let me be amused by their antics, their sudden laughter, their glee. Help me to be touched by the naivete of the Christmas narrative, the angels bringing word to humanity, Mary and Joseph escaping with their child into Egypt. May the light of the Incarnation flood my heart. Help me bring your peace into the world. Amen.

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Written by Nanci Hoffman from the Village Church.

MEDITATION:

I asked my daughter Tami, who now lives in the U.S. if she were asked to write something for a Christmas memory, what would it be?  Without hesitation, she said it would be about the Christmases we shared with our church in Tokyo many years ago. It was in the 70s and 80s when we attended the Tokyo Baptist church in Shibuya, Tokyo. I think the total attendance on a Sunday morning was about 100 to 150. Many of the congregants were young, new, Japanese Christians, the only Christians in their traditionally Shinto or Buddhist families. Some congregants were expats mainly from the U.S. or Britain, doing business in Tokyo with their families. The Staff of the church were missionaries mainly from Texas. Because we had what would have been considered over there a large home, we often opened it up to the church for Bible Studies and other activities. The happiest of all was when annually we invited the whole church by an invitation in the Sunday bulletin to our home for a Christmas Carol sing and fellowship. The church organist, Darrell Mock, would play my piano, and probably 60 to 70 of our church friends would sing around the Christmas tree, many sitting on the floor, all crowded together. We would sing from the little books of lyrics I typed up. Darrell would play some special music for us. Then we would share in the goodies that everyone brought. It was glorious. It is one of those memories that when brought to mind fill our bodies and souls with light, laughter, lightness and such thankfulness, as times with friends, music, good fellowship, and praise to our Lord evoke. Thank you, Tami, for bringing this memory to us again.

SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 145:18

“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.”

LINK TO CHRISTMAS MUSIC/VIDEO:

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Written by Judy Walters from the Village Church.

MEDITATION:

In 2022, the doorbell rings on Christmas Eve and we expect it to be Amazon with a last-minute gift.  Or Uncle Joe dressed as Santa Claus to surprise our grandchildren.  Back in the day, circa 1945, we had a different, but traditional visitor every year on Christmas Eve.  A doorbell ring or a knock on the door, and our special visitor arrived by taxi after traveling by train from New York City to Washington DC. Not Santa, however, she may as well have been. Anne Walters, my Godmother, was adored by all our family.  Although we weren’t blood relatives, we were related in our hearts.  Anne delighted my three sisters and I with some of the latest Christmas tree decorations and delicious candies from Macy’s Department Store on 5th Avenue.  Soon after she arrived, Anne donned an apron, becoming “Hazel” just like Ted Key’s cartoon housemaid character from The Saturday Evening Post magazine. Entertaining us by telling jokes in her New York accent, she vacuumed, washed dishes, and cooked alongside my mother. She was a great help to our family.

Anne first met my parents at First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan where they became friends and members.  Not only that, but she also worked for the Doctor who delivered me. When I was baptized, Anne became my Godmother.  She took her commitment seriously by always writing to me and taking a real interest in my young life.  Even though I drifted in my Christian walk, I knew that she was praying for me and eventually I came to know the Lord.  I’ll never forget her twinkling blue eyes, her kind and generous spirit.  She infused laughter, love, and joy in our home every Christmas.  There was no better gift than Anne!

SCRIPTURE:

Luke 2:15

“When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

LINK TO CHRISTMAS MUSIC/VIDEO:

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Written by Ace Collins. This is an excerpt from his book “Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas.

MEDITATION:

The Nutcracker Ballet is perhaps the most unique Christmas tradition. Considering that this ballet was adapted from a morbid story written for adults, brought to the theater by a famous composer who had great reservations about the project’s merit and especially about its Christmas setting, and originally staged by students and opening to bad reviews, one would think the ballet would have been doomed to obscurity, lost in the maze of other failed holiday theatrical productions. But The Nutcracker survived, somehow hanging on to life in communist Russia and finally finding a magical platform in a place that rarely embraced classical culture – Cold War-era United States…Each year more than 200 American ballet companies pack theaters from coast to coast with their versions of The Nutcracker. The ballet creates the same kind of results in Europe and Asia. The Nutcracker does not embrace the scriptural story of the first Christmas. It is simply classic fantasy told in a childlike fashion., But in important ways, the Nutcracker accomplishes what the holidays are supposed to accomplish: it brings family and friends together to share in the wonder, joy, and magic of the season. Just like the bright-eyed expressions of 12^th century children as their fathers cracked nuts at Christmas, the looks of wonder in children’s eyes as they watch or participate in a much different holiday Nutcracker prove that the spirit of Christmas can be reborn in a wide variety of ways around the world each year. And that spirit is something worth celebrating.

SCRIPTURE:

James 1:17

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

LINK TO CHRISTMAS MUSIC/VIDEO:

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