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Written by Arlene Stamper of the Village Church

When I think back to memorable moments at Christmas, there is one special time that still stands out to me. I was babysitting my granddaughter who was about ten years old at the time. I asked her if she’d like to go see live animals at a “play” nearby. Well, that caught her attention as she loved animals. She would sleep every night with about 100 stuffed animals surrounding her!  We drove over to the Escondido Methodist Church that evening.  They were holding their annual recreation of the birth of Jesus. We waited in the church sanctuary for our turn to go into the little town of Bethlehem. We were assigned Hebrew names and Lauren practiced saying her “name” in case one of the soldiers asked for her name. When we were escorted into Bethlehem, we saw the villagers selling their wares and even live animals in stalls (which my granddaughter loved!).  There was also excitement in the air. Everyone was talking about the bright star in the sky!  And the coming of a Savior!  My granddaughter was enthralled with all the activity and yes, a bit apprehensive about the soldiers marching in the street.  We were told to leave as the Romans were coming.   Our guide then took us to a safe place, a stable where we saw a live baby and its parents…. baby Jesus, Mary & Joseph. And they recounted to us the birth of our Savior.  It is now 10 years later; my granddaughter is a Junior at Creighton University in Omaha Nebraska. Although she has not been a regular church attendee, she made the decision to go on the Creighton Encounter with Christ Retreat.   Of course, I am thrilled to hear she is going. Even though it’s been many years ago now that she had an introduction to baby Jesus at the Stable in the Inn, I am praying that at this retreat, she will learn much more about the grown-up Jesus and the life she can have in Him. May you and your family also draw nearer to Christ during this holiest of seasons. Merry Christmas to you All!

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Written by C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), a British writer and theologian.  This is an excerpt from his book “Reflections on the Psalms.”

But the most obvious fact about praise — whether of God or anything — strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless (sometimes even if) shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise — lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game — praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars. I had not noticed how the humblest, and at the same time most balanced and capacious, minds, praised most, while the cranks, misfits, and malcontents praised least.

Prayer:

Today’s prayer is from the The Mozarabic Rite, 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.  It was developed during Visigoth (Arian Christian) rule of the Iberian peninsula in the 500s AD.

Grant us, O Lord, to live this day in gladness and peace,

without stumbling and without stain,

that reaching the evening victorious over all temptation,

we may praise you,

the eternal God,

for you govern all things,

and are praised

now and forever. Amen.

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Written by Max Lucado, a contemporary pastor, author, and speaker. This is an excerpt from his work “Glory Days.”

A little boy named Adam wanted to be like his friend Bobby. Adam loved the way Bobby walked and talked. Bobby, however, wanted to be like Charlie. Something about Charlie’s stride and accent intrigued him. Charlie, on the other hand, was impressed with Danny. Charlie wanted to look and sound like Danny. Danny, of all things, had a hero as well: Adam. He wanted to be just like Adam. So Adam was imitating Bobby, who was imitating Charlie, who was imitating Danny, who was imitating Adam. Turns out, all Adam had to do was be himself. Stay in your own lane. Run your own race. Nothing good happens when you compare and compete. God does not judge you according to the talents of others. He judges you according to yours. His yardstick for measuring faithfulness is how faithful you are with your own gifts. You are not responsible for the nature of your gift. But you are responsible for how you use it.

Prayer:

Written by Chelsey DeMatteis, a contemporary writer and podcaster.

Lord, thank you for the giftings you’ve given me, I pray that as I continue growing in my faith that I will always seek your heart and desire to serve you with the incredible giftings you knit within me. Lord, help me see the ways I can use my gifts in the season you have me in and I pray for a heart that is attentive to your leading. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Written by Timothy Keller (1950-2023), an American Calvinist pastor, preacher, theologian, and Christian apologist.

If the distance between the Earth and the sun, which is 92 million miles, was the thickness of a piece of paper, the diameter of our galaxy would be a stack of papers 310 miles high. And our galaxy is less than a speck of dust in the part of the universe that we can see. And that part of the universe might just be a speck of dust compared to all the universe. And if Jesus is the Son of God who holds all this together with the word of his power, is this the kind of person you ask into your life to be your personal assistant?” Go outside and for one hour say nothing. Just think about what this means to you.

Prayer:

Written by Gwen Smith, a contemporary writer. This is an excerpt from her book “What Does Your Handwriting Say About God.”

Holy Lord, there is none like You and Your greatness is unsearchable. Thank You for writing Your love on the fabric of humanity and on all that is created by Your hands. Thank You for expressing Your love to me in the intricate, design details of my life. I stand in awe and bless Your great name. In Jesus’s Name I pray, Amen.

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Written by George Matheson (1842-1906), a Scottish minister, hymn writer, and author. 

My soul, practice being alone with Christ! It is written that when they were alone, He expounded all things to His disciples. Do not wonder at the saying; it is true to your experience. If you would understand yourself send the multitude away. Let them go out one by one till you are left alone with Jesus… Have you ever pictured yourself the one remaining creature in the earth, the one remaining creature in all the starry worlds? In such a universe your every thought would be “God and I! God and I!” And yet He is as near to you as that – as near as if in the boundless spaces there throbbed no heart but His and yours. Practice that solitude, O my soul! Practice the expulsion of the crowd! Practice the stillness of your own heart! Practice the solemn refrain “God and I! God and I!” Let none interpose between you and your wrestling angel! You will be both condemned and pardoned when you meet Jesus alone!

Prayer:

Written by Stephanie Reeves, a contemporary writer.

Dear God, as I begin this day, I ask for your guidance and wisdom. Help me to find moments of solitude in the midst of my busy schedule. Grant me the strength to overcome any challenges that come my way and to handle them with grace and compassion. Help me to appreciate the beauty of nature around me, and to find joy in the small moments of life. Thank you for your love and your constant presence in my life. Lord, may I never forget to take time to be alone with you. Help me to remember that you are always with me, even in the midst of chaos and noise. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Written by N. T. Wright, a contemporary Anglican bishop, pastor, author, and speaker. This is an excerpt from his book “For All God’s Worth.”

We need Christian people to work as healers: as healing judges and prison staff, as healing teachers and administrators, as healing shopkeepers and bankers, as healing musicians and artists, as healing writers and scientists, as healing diplomats and politicians. We need people who will hold on to Christ firmly with one hand and reach out with the other, with wit and skill and cheerfulness, with compassion and sorrow and tenderness, to the places where our world is in pain. We need people who will use all their God-given skills… to analyze where things have gone wrong, to come to the place of pain, and to hold over the wound the only medicine which will really heal, which is the love of Christ made incarnate once more, the strange love of God turned into your flesh and mine, your smile and mine, your tears and mine, your patient analysis and mine, your frustration and mine, your joy and mine. 

Prayer:

Written by Teresa of Avila.(1515-1582), a Carmelite nun and religious reformer.

Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion is to look out to the world; yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good; yours are the hands with which God is to bless people now, amen.

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Written by Greg Scharf, a contemporary professor of divinity, president of the Evangelical Homiletics Society, author, and editor.  This is an excerpt from his work “Pursuing God’s Call On Your Life.”

God’s call on your life is a call to himself, to his kingdom, to belong to Jesus, to holiness, to be saints out of darkness and into light as a people, to hope, to his eternal glory, and excellence and to live worthily of this calling. He calls us to eternal life. His call is not restricted by our prior status or lack of it. He calls us through the gospel; he calls us “in Christ.” He who calls is faithful to enable us to fulfill his calling. He calls us to follow Jesus’ example of obedience despite suffering. These facets of the call are our first and main calling. God’s call often comes in the form of a command. Think of Abram or Moses. Or it may be in terms of a commission such as in the case of Joshua. Only rarely is it a vision…God’s command and calling converge instructively…God not only calls, he sends. The calling to live up to our calling includes obediently using one’s spiritual gifts. Discernment concerning your unique path of obedience to his call begins with a sober assessment of what he has entrusted to you, of what he has made you a steward.

Prayer:

Written by Lead Like Jesus is an organization established by Ken Blanchard to “glorify God by inspiring and equipping people to lead like Jesus.”

God, I am grateful that You call young and old, men and women, in all times and places and circumstances. Take hold of me today, Lord. Open my ears to hear Your Spirit’s voice and direction. Lead me in the ways of Jesus. Let me rise to follow You in humility and confidence. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

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Written by Grace Pouch, a contemporary writer and content manager.

Appreciating the peculiarities of God’s design and responding creatively is something that all of us can do in our own way. Raw materials become touchpoints with invisible truths when—and sometimes only when—we touch them. Working creatively with a piece of wood, for example, puts you in touch with the smell, the grain, the orderliness of growth patterns, the uniqueness of each plant —and this, in turn, can put you in touch with the goodness and nearness of God.  I grew up in a household of professional painters and sculptors, so I had an abundance of opportunities to play with different mediums of fine art. But creativity doesn’t have to be formal. It can look like arranging flowers, making jewelry, painting portraits, quilting, gardening—anything that helps us slow down and pay attention to the reality that, in the words of poet Christian Weiman, “God goes belonging to every riven thing he’s made.”

Prayer:

Written by Marcia Meier, a contemporary writer and artist.

O, great Creator

Guide my hand

Open my heart

Quiet my mind

Allow your inspiration to flow to and through me

Make me your instrument for creativity

Allow my words to move and touch others

To soothe, to bring awareness, to make life easier for others

To bring about justice and foment peace

May I always work in a way that brings your holy spirit and love to others

May your vast love hold me safe and keep me whole as I crete and write in service to you and the world.

Amen.

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Written by Lysa TerKeurst and Joel Muddamalle, contemporary authors. This is an excerpt from their book “30 Days With Jesus.”

[In the wilderness] The Israelites saw the tangible presence of God leading and guiding them day and night. Even though the Israelites cried out in complaints and weariness from the journey that felt purposeless to them, God’s presence continued to guide them. Here is one of the challenges we face when experiencing unexpected pain and suffering: We can believe there is an underlying meaninglessness to what we’re facing. But through uncovering these details within the story of Israel in the wilderness, we see there is not a single moment of our hardship and hurt that is not used by God to bring forth a greater good and purpose. The question isn’t so much about the direction in which God is leading us — it’s about our obedience along the way…The pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night didn’t just lead God’s people; it also served as a protective boundary. The people always knew how far ahead they could go. This clear boundary gave them a visible marking of what too far would be. Too far would simply be to step in front of the pillar of cloud or fire, putting them outside or ahead of the presence of God and the pace of His leading… In the darkest moments of our life, when we feel unseen, disregarded, or abandoned, we can remember that …wherever the Light of Christ is, there is hope. This isn’t just a good-sounding Christian slogan. This is truth. And sometimes it’s helpful to speak this out loud over whatever you are facing. Remember, lies flee in the presence of truth, just like darkness flees in the presence of light… God’s presence never departed from the Israelites, and Jesus is with us even now. We pray today that you found yourself comforted and cared for even in the hardest place you could find yourself in.

Prayer:

Today’s prayer was written on the wall of the children’s home Mother Teresa (1910-1997) operated in Calcutta, India.

Dear Jesus,  help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly, that our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us, and be so in us, that every person we should come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus. Stay with us, and then we shall begin to shine as you shine; so to shine as to be a light to others; the light, Jesus, will be all from you. None of it will be ours. It will be you shining on others through us. Let us thus praise you in the way you love best, by shining on those around us. Let us preach you without preaching: not by words, but by our example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear for you. Amen.

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Written by Curt Thompson, a contemporary author. This is an excerpt from his book “The Soul of Shame: Retelling the Stories We Believe About Ourselves.”

Shame is not just a consequence of something our first parents did in the Garden of Eden. It is the emotional weapon that evil uses to corrupt our relationships with God and each other, and disintegrate any and all gifts of vocational vision and creativity. These gifts include any area of endeavor that promotes goodness, beauty, and joy in and for the lives of others, whether that be teaching our first graders, loving our spouse well, managing forests, conducting healing prayer services, creating a new medical technology, offering psychotherapy, or composing symphonies. Shame is a primary means to prevent us from using the gifts we have been given. And those gifts enable us to flourish as a light-bearing community of Jesus followers who work to create space for others who wish to join it to do so. Shame, therefore, is not simply an unfortunate, random, emotional event that came with us out of the primordial evolutionary soup. It is both a source and result of evil’s active assault on God’s creation, and a way for evil to try to hold out until the new heaven and earth appear at the consummation of history..[There is an] alternative story of goodness and beauty that God is telling, the one God is imagining for us all, one in which he is doing “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.      

Prayer:

Written by Max Lucado, a contemporary pastor, author, and speaker. This is an excerpt from his book “Pocket Prayers.”

Father, you are so worthy of it all—my attention, praise, worship, and love. Your works are amazing, beyond anything I can even express. Help me be a light that shines toward you today. It is often hard for me to stand out from the world and be different. Give me the courage to make your goodness known and to never be ashamed. Please give peace to my friends who are standing up for you and as a result have found themselves friendless or with few who understand them. I thank you for your wonderful works and all that you have done and will do. In the glorious name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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