The 2nd Day of Christmas
Listen, kings and rulers,
while I sing for the Lord,
the God of Israel. ~ Judges 5:3 (CEV)
When the shepherds saw Jesus, they told his parents what the angel had said about him. Everyone listened and was surprised. ~ Luke 2:17-18 (CEV)
KEY THOUGHT:
Life is full of surprises when we pay attention to the Lord.
PRAYER:
Lord, I still marvel at the gift that came to us on the first Christmas. I know that none of this should be surprising given your history with us -- given your ongoing generosity. Energize me to carry on the party. I'm eager to talk about the wonderful surprises you've brought into my life. Amen.
Christmas
You, my people, have sinned
in two ways—
you have rejected me,
the source
of life-giving water,
and you’ve tried to collect water
in cracked and leaking pits
dug in the ground. ~ Jeremiah 2:13 (CEV)
Real love isn’t our love for God, but his love for us. God sent his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven. ~ 1 John 4:10 (CEV)
KEY THOUGHTS:
While all our attempts at relating to God are sloppy and ineffective, in his love, God sends the perfect sacrifice who implements forgiveness and reconciliation.
PRAYER:
Merry Chritmas, God! Thank you for sending yourself into our broken and leaky world. We know that the problem is of our own doing. Yet your love transcends the problem of sin. Thank you for reaching out! Amen!
Christmas Eve
Open the ancient gates,
so that the glorious king
may come in. ~ Psalm 24:7 (CEV)
“Here’s the man.” ~ John 19:5 (CEB)
KEY THOUGHT:
Open your life to Jesus the glorious king as he comes!
PRAYER:
Thank you for coming, Jesus! Help me to open the gates of my life more than a crack. I can't open them wide enough on my own to welcome you in the way you should be welcomed. I'm just going to start pulling on the gates and trust that you're pushing. Amen.
They sinned and rebelled against me, but I will forgive them and take away their guilt. ~ Jeremiah 33:8 (CEV)
The angel said to Joseph, "Then after her baby is born, name him Jesus,[a] because he will save his people from their sins." ~ Matthew 1:21 (CEV)
[a] 1.21 name him Jesus: In Hebrew the name “Jesus” means “the Lord saves.”
KEY THOUGHT:
Jesus is the carrier of God's gift of forgiveness.
PRAYER:
Dear God, thank you for Jesus and the wonderful gift of forgiveness that he brings. Forgive me when I think I'm already good enough and that my sinfulness is really not such a big deal. Help me to own my sinfulness so that I can more fully marvel at your forgiveness. This Christmas I'm going to celebrate the forgiveness that entered into the world with Jesus. 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)
