Sticking With Christmas
Friday’s Verse:
From Luke 2:19 ESV
“Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”
Christmas Day is noisy with celebration. The day after is a little quieter. The company has left, the packages are unwrapped, and regular life starts to make its presence felt. It is here that our faith sometimes gets to do its most authentic work.
Mary doesn’t flee from the miracle. She clings to it. She ponders it. She allows God’s act to infiltrate her ordinary life. Lutheran faith happens right here too. It’s not about trying to maintain some level of spiritual elation. It’s about resting in the knowledge that God is still present when the music stops and life starts to get back to normal.
The Incarnation happened into a family, into work, into fatigue, into responsibility. Real ones. It means your everyday life counts. Your temper, your work ethic, your kindness to your neighbor, your repentance when you do something wrong. These are not small matters. These are the places where God encounters you.
The way you live a good and faithful life is not by striving harder to be holy. It is by continually returning to what God has already done for you in Christ. Forgiven. Adopted and sent back out into the world to love your neighbor in simple, tangible ways.
So don’t rush by Christmas. Carry it with you. Let it influence how you talk, how you listen, how you forgive. God is still with you. Emmanuel didn’t depart when you took down the decorations.
✝️ A Prayer for Today:
Lord Jesus, help me to bring the joy of Your coming into the ordinary days to come. When faith feels quiet, when work feels heavy, remind me that You are still near. Form my life by Your grace and lead me to love others as You have loved me. Amen.
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Luther’s Morning Prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
The photo above was created by Gemini (gemini.google.com)