NEAR
Christmas Eve
PSALM 38:21 (CEB)
Don’t leave me all alone, Lord!
Please, my God, don’t be far from me!
LUKE 1:68 (CEV)
Praise the Lord,
the God of Israel!
He has come
to save his people.
SUMMARY SENTENCE
In Jesus, we see that God has come near to rescue us
PRAYER
Lord God, as we gear up to celebrate the birth of Jesus, I want to join with the angels in singing praises to you. For you have sent your very own Son to live among us and rescue us from the chaos we've created. What more could I ask? Glory to you! Amen.
THE LORD'S PRAYER
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your Name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen.
*ABOUT THE
DAILY TEXTS
The Daily Texts have been published by the Moravian Church since 1731. In 2015 I started posting these Bible verses for my spiritual formation students at Pacific Islands University. In the process of responding to the verses, I found the rhythm of looking for a common thread and writing a prayer based on that key idea to be helpful for my own soul. The prayers are more or less modeled on the TRIP method, which is what I ask my students to do in their journaling. ~ Brad Boydston
TRANSLATIONS
ABP = Authorized Boydston Paraphrase -- a freestyle biblical adaptation -- somewhere between paraphrase, commentary, and sermon
CEB = Common English Bible (©2011, the Common English Bible)
CEV = Contemporary English Version (©1995, American Bible Society)
MSG = The Message (©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson)
NIRV = New International Reader's Version (©1996, 1998, Biblica)
NIV = New International Version (©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, Biblica)
NLT = New Living Translation (©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, Tyndale House Foundation)
