Category Archives: Daily Bread Devotional

Still Learning
Tom Mountenay of Independence, MO, USA

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” -Matthew 2:13-15

Two favorite teachers shared truths about me that I treasure. Mr. Jackson, my junior high industrial arts teacher nicknamed “Jackhammer,” could have sent me to the principal’s office many times. Instead, one day after class, he told me, “You are a better person than the way you behave.” Dr. David Freeman, professor of social work, once asked me a question in front of the class. Not knowing the answer, I said, “I don’t know; I guess I’m slow.” He said, “Tom, you are not slow-you ponder.” These two teachers revealed gifts of grace to me. I am still learning and pondering how to be a better person.

For the last two years, I have been intrigued by Ignatian spirituality. For some time, I felt stagnant. Ideas and insights that had inspired me in the past no longer motivated me to be a better person. Then I read the question, “What more does God want of me?”

The question we seek an answer for is “What more does God want of me?” More is…the aspiration to always grow in service for the greater glory of God. [This can be] described as the Jesuit “itch”-a restlessness in service, an ambition to maintain high standards of performance, a desire to conquer new frontiers. But it simply means more. We are loved by a God who loves without limit. We love him in return. What more can we do to love him? -David L. Fleming, What Is Ignatian Spirituality? Chicago: Loyola Press, 2008, 40

The love of God activates and affects our hearts, not just our minds. Ignatius understood that we can easily “unbind” or separate our thoughts, beliefs, and actions from the love of God. Our attentiveness to God increases our understanding and intellect, yet Ignatius addressed the response of the heart.

I hope I keep asking, “What more can we do to love God?” I want to be a better person and a better evangelist. My heart has been changed by God’s love and by those who love me. Every day I want to love God more and be God’s loving kindness. I am still learning.

Prayer Phrase

Let your heart be broken for a world in need. -Bryan Jeffrey Leech, \xc2\xa9 1976 Fred Bock Music Company, Community of Christ Sings 353

Spiritual Practice

Lament

Lament is an expression of our grief, sorrow, and sometimes confession to God amid the brokenness, injustice, and suffering of the human family. Lament is a major theme of the psalms and an invitation to “let our hearts be broken” as we humbly pray for awareness of right and restorative action. Spend time each day this month practicing the prayer of Lament.

Loving God, break my heart open to my own and others’ suffering because of injustice. Help me stay with what is real even when it is uncomfortable.

Forgiving God, grow in me an awareness of the ways that I consciously and unconsciously contribute to systems of violence, suffering, and injustice.

Healing God, open my eyes to invitations to relieve the physical and spiritual suffering of others.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Still Learning
Tom Mountenay of Independence, MO, USA

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” -Matthew 2:13-15

Two favorite teachers shared truths about me that I treasure. Mr. Jackson, my junior high industrial arts teacher nicknamed “Jackhammer,” could have sent me to the principal’s office many times. Instead, one day after class, he told me, “You are a better person than the way you behave.” Dr. David Freeman, professor of social work, once asked me a question in front of the class. Not knowing the answer, I said, “I don’t know; I guess I’m slow.” He said, “Tom, you are not slow-you ponder.” These two teachers revealed gifts of grace to me. I am still learning and pondering how to be a better person.

For the last two years, I have been intrigued by Ignatian spirituality. For some time, I felt stagnant. Ideas and insights that had inspired me in the past no longer motivated me to be a better person. Then I read the question, “What more does God want of me?”

The question we seek an answer for is “What more does God want of me?” More is…the aspiration to always grow in service for the greater glory of God. [This can be] described as the Jesuit “itch”-a restlessness in service, an ambition to maintain high standards of performance, a desire to conquer new frontiers. But it simply means more. We are loved by a God who loves without limit. We love him in return. What more can we do to love him? -David L. Fleming, What Is Ignatian Spirituality? Chicago: Loyola Press, 2008, 40

The love of God activates and affects our hearts, not just our minds. Ignatius understood that we can easily “unbind” or separate our thoughts, beliefs, and actions from the love of God. Our attentiveness to God increases our understanding and intellect, yet Ignatius addressed the response of the heart.

I hope I keep asking, “What more can we do to love God?” I want to be a better person and a better evangelist. My heart has been changed by God’s love and by those who love me. Every day I want to love God more and be God’s loving kindness. I am still learning.

Prayer Phrase

Let your heart be broken for a world in need. -Bryan Jeffrey Leech, \xc2\xa9 1976 Fred Bock Music Company, Community of Christ Sings 353

Spiritual Practice

Lament

Lament is an expression of our grief, sorrow, and sometimes confession to God amid the brokenness, injustice, and suffering of the human family. Lament is a major theme of the psalms and an invitation to “let our hearts be broken” as we humbly pray for awareness of right and restorative action. Spend time each day this month practicing the prayer of Lament.

Loving God, break my heart open to my own and others’ suffering because of injustice. Help me stay with what is real even when it is uncomfortable.

Forgiving God, grow in me an awareness of the ways that I consciously and unconsciously contribute to systems of violence, suffering, and injustice.

Healing God, open my eyes to invitations to relieve the physical and spiritual suffering of others.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Still Learning
Tom Mountenay of Independence, MO, USA

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” -Matthew 2:13-15

Two favorite teachers shared truths about me that I treasure. Mr. Jackson, my junior high industrial arts teacher nicknamed “Jackhammer,” could have sent me to the principal’s office many times. Instead, one day after class, he told me, “You are a better person than the way you behave.” Dr. David Freeman, professor of social work, once asked me a question in front of the class. Not knowing the answer, I said, “I don’t know; I guess I’m slow.” He said, “Tom, you are not slow-you ponder.” These two teachers revealed gifts of grace to me. I am still learning and pondering how to be a better person.

For the last two years, I have been intrigued by Ignatian spirituality. For some time, I felt stagnant. Ideas and insights that had inspired me in the past no longer motivated me to be a better person. Then I read the question, “What more does God want of me?”

The question we seek an answer for is “What more does God want of me?” More is…the aspiration to always grow in service for the greater glory of God. [This can be] described as the Jesuit “itch”-a restlessness in service, an ambition to maintain high standards of performance, a desire to conquer new frontiers. But it simply means more. We are loved by a God who loves without limit. We love him in return. What more can we do to love him? -David L. Fleming, What Is Ignatian Spirituality? Chicago: Loyola Press, 2008, 40

The love of God activates and affects our hearts, not just our minds. Ignatius understood that we can easily “unbind” or separate our thoughts, beliefs, and actions from the love of God. Our attentiveness to God increases our understanding and intellect, yet Ignatius addressed the response of the heart.

I hope I keep asking, “What more can we do to love God?” I want to be a better person and a better evangelist. My heart has been changed by God’s love and by those who love me. Every day I want to love God more and be God’s loving kindness. I am still learning.

Prayer Phrase

Let your heart be broken for a world in need. -Bryan Jeffrey Leech, \xc2\xa9 1976 Fred Bock Music Company, Community of Christ Sings 353

Spiritual Practice

Lament

Lament is an expression of our grief, sorrow, and sometimes confession to God amid the brokenness, injustice, and suffering of the human family. Lament is a major theme of the psalms and an invitation to “let our hearts be broken” as we humbly pray for awareness of right and restorative action. Spend time each day this month practicing the prayer of Lament.

Loving God, break my heart open to my own and others’ suffering because of injustice. Help me stay with what is real even when it is uncomfortable.

Forgiving God, grow in me an awareness of the ways that I consciously and unconsciously contribute to systems of violence, suffering, and injustice.

Healing God, open my eyes to invitations to relieve the physical and spiritual suffering of others.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Still Learning
Tom Mountenay of Independence, MO, USA

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” -Matthew 2:13-15

Two favorite teachers shared truths about me that I treasure. Mr. Jackson, my junior high industrial arts teacher nicknamed “Jackhammer,” could have sent me to the principal’s office many times. Instead, one day after class, he told me, “You are a better person than the way you behave.” Dr. David Freeman, professor of social work, once asked me a question in front of the class. Not knowing the answer, I said, “I don’t know; I guess I’m slow.” He said, “Tom, you are not slow-you ponder.” These two teachers revealed gifts of grace to me. I am still learning and pondering how to be a better person.

For the last two years, I have been intrigued by Ignatian spirituality. For some time, I felt stagnant. Ideas and insights that had inspired me in the past no longer motivated me to be a better person. Then I read the question, “What more does God want of me?”

The question we seek an answer for is “What more does God want of me?” More is…the aspiration to always grow in service for the greater glory of God. [This can be] described as the Jesuit “itch”-a restlessness in service, an ambition to maintain high standards of performance, a desire to conquer new frontiers. But it simply means more. We are loved by a God who loves without limit. We love him in return. What more can we do to love him? -David L. Fleming, What Is Ignatian Spirituality? Chicago: Loyola Press, 2008, 40

The love of God activates and affects our hearts, not just our minds. Ignatius understood that we can easily “unbind” or separate our thoughts, beliefs, and actions from the love of God. Our attentiveness to God increases our understanding and intellect, yet Ignatius addressed the response of the heart.

I hope I keep asking, “What more can we do to love God?” I want to be a better person and a better evangelist. My heart has been changed by God’s love and by those who love me. Every day I want to love God more and be God’s loving kindness. I am still learning.

Prayer Phrase

Let your heart be broken for a world in need. -Bryan Jeffrey Leech, \xc2\xa9 1976 Fred Bock Music Company, Community of Christ Sings 353

Spiritual Practice

Lament

Lament is an expression of our grief, sorrow, and sometimes confession to God amid the brokenness, injustice, and suffering of the human family. Lament is a major theme of the psalms and an invitation to “let our hearts be broken” as we humbly pray for awareness of right and restorative action. Spend time each day this month practicing the prayer of Lament.

Loving God, break my heart open to my own and others’ suffering because of injustice. Help me stay with what is real even when it is uncomfortable.

Forgiving God, grow in me an awareness of the ways that I consciously and unconsciously contribute to systems of violence, suffering, and injustice.

Healing God, open my eyes to invitations to relieve the physical and spiritual suffering of others.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Where Is New Life?
Katie Harmon-McLaughlin of Independence, MO, USA

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce….But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare…. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. -Jeremiah 29:4-5, 7, 11

A few years ago, I attempted a “faithful” anticipatory journey through Advent, but the season of my soul didn’t match up with the liturgical calendar. It felt forced and tired. On Christmas Day, I remember feeling grateful to be with family, but hollow within. Where was the new life gift? What was it that was being born? I felt disappointment and a lack of faith that God was actually doing anything new in me or the world.

I can now see that the new life gift was the space within that was being hollowed out. I was being emptied of my expectations and assumptions. I wanted a resolution, but God was creating something deeper. I wanted incarnation to mean that the church’s financial problems would be fixed. I wanted incarnation to mean that I could finally “arrive” in my spiritual life and have the God-experience I wanted. I wanted incarnation to mean that the world would be finally healed and redeemed and transformed. I was filled with impatience and tired of holding the tensions.

When Jesus was born, there were many in his context that wanted quick fixes, too. Joy and mystery encompass the birth story, but the next day Jesus was still a baby! He had to be nursed and nurtured as he grew. How many people passed by the Christ-child each day as he was growing and never knew the potential for transformation ripening within?

Perhaps what has been born among us is something we have yet to recognize. Perhaps Christmas is a symbol that points to a reality of continuous incarnation that we, too, are invited to notice and nurture into fullness of being. Maybe like the people of Jesus’ own time, what we most yearn for will not come in the form or the timeline we expect, but is walking among us in our everyday lives-growing, even now, in our midst.

Prayer Phrase

“Trust what is being born” (Stephen M. Veazey, Words of Counsel, 2019).

Spiritual Practice

Deepen your breathing as you enter a few moments of silent presence to God. Pay attention first to your own life as you gently ask and notice, “What is most alive in me right now? What is being born in me?” After a few moments of silent listening, ask these questions of your community, the church, and the world. Notice how the Spirit is revealing new life and possibility as you prayerfully ask these questions over time.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Here We Have Found Christmas
Elizabeth MacDonald of Seaside, OR, USA

For a child has been born for us,
    a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
    and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. -Isaiah 9:6

Peace on earth hardly seems a possibility
When violence erupts in every corner,
When hatred is heard in the report of a gun,
And sorrow and pain are reflected in the eyes of children.

We frantically make plans for Christmas to come-
We bake, shop, wrap, trim the tree, sing, and party.
Yet Christmas eludes us and seems more distant.
A hunger arises in our souls and we search to make it whole.

We catch the echo of music from above us
And pause to listen to the ever-swelling strain.
Our voices begin to join the chorus born of stardust,
And we hurry with tired feet to find a sacred place.

We enter a stable, where cows and donkeys abide.
A place where a baby’s cry comes from a bed of straw.
Moving closer to get a better view of one so small
We kneel to touch tiny fingers and murmur a quiet lullaby.

And suddenly we know…we know…we know!
Here is the peace we seek for troubled times;
Here is healing for every wound in our lives;
Here is love and light that confronts darkness and hatred.

Here we have found Christmas…
Here where God meets us in the ordinary
And touches us gently like we are newborn babies.
Here we have found Christmas, a holy place in our hearts.
NOEL, NOEL!

Prayer Phrase

“Trust what is being born” (Stephen M. Veazey, Words of Counsel, 2019).

Spiritual Practice

Deepen your breathing as you enter a few moments of silent presence to God. Pay attention first to your own life as you gently ask and notice, “What is most alive in me right now? What is being born in me?” After a few moments of silent listening, ask these questions of your community, the church, and the world. Notice how the Spirit is revealing new life and possibility as you prayerfully ask these questions over time.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

The Gift of Christmas
Velma Ruch

… and above all things, clothe yourselves with the bonds of charity, as with a mantle, which is a bond of perfectness and peace; pray always, that you may not faint until I come; behold, and lo, I will come quickly and receive you unto myself. Amen. -Doctrine and Covenants 85:38c

From Finding Home: The Hospitality of God, Graceland University Press, 2006, pp. 87-88

One Sunday evening before Christmas in 1993 I was sitting upstairs relaxing and looking at my Christmas tree full of angels. Just then the doorbell rang and outside stood a young man I didn’t know holding a beautifully wrapped box which he said was for me from my secret sister. I thanked the young man and asked his name. He said he was told not to tell his name because I might know from whom the gift came. I thanked him and he left. I went inside and opened the box. I was amazed at what I saw. It was a beautiful dollhouse type room filled with furnishings that somehow seemed familiar. Immediately the magic of my childhood was upon me.

When I was about ten years old someone gave me a dollhouse. I spent the most delightful hours of my childhood making things to furnish it. Ever since I have been irresistibly drawn to dollhouses. So it was with special joy I began to inspect this one. I looked at the pictures on the wall and with amazement I discovered they were pictures taken when we were in Norway, Christmas 1989, to inaugurate the new Norwegian hymnal I had edited. Then I saw on the desk a framed picture of me taken when we were in Lillehammer. On the desk was a light just like the one I have and the Holy Bible with writing material. There was the whole bookcase filled with books and beside it a Victorian chair like the one in my living room inherited from my grandmother. In the other corner was a globe of the world and on the floor a carpet just like mine.

Tears filled my eyes and I thought: “This is no ordinary dollhouse. This is for me. This is my life put together by someone who knows me and loves me.” I wept tears of joy for the beauty of it and for the hours of skilled work that had gone into it. I still have it in my living room and every time I look at it I experience a surge of joy.

The most wondrous thing of all is to recognize that the greatest of all gifts, the gift of God, the love of God, is not a general gift. It is a gift for me. To make that discovery for ourselves is to experience Christmas in the first person. It is not just to know it in second or third person, for you or for him or her. It is first person, for me. What happens in us when we make that discovery is similar to the amazement I experienced when I recognized that the dollhouse room someone had made was not just a room in general, it was my room. It was for me.

Prayer Phrase

“Trust what is being born” (Stephen M. Veazey, Words of Counsel, 2019).

Spiritual Practice

Deepen your breathing as you enter a few moments of silent presence to God. Pay attention first to your own life as you gently ask and notice, “What is most alive in me right now? What is being born in me?” After a few moments of silent listening, ask these questions of your community, the church, and the world. Notice how the Spirit is revealing new life and possibility as you prayerfully ask these questions over time.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

A Fresh Encounter
Michele McGrath of Huntington Beach, CA, USA

Wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we have observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet.  -Matthew 2:1b, 5

Unless you are newborn yourself, you may have experienced it before, many times over. Christianity’s rhythm is cyclic, repetitive. Still, in the same way that we can continually find new gusts of loveliness and truth in old scriptures our eyes have taken in before, each Advent is a fresh encounter. Not because the story is new, but because the cosmos has changed-we have changed. The Word is new because the world is new.

To tell it straight, I have never felt anything like a wise man. But this year, my wandering has crossed theirs, and our intersection is giving me hope. Let me explain.

First, these wise men and I, not one of us seems to possess anything resembling a map. Since the territory for Christians in a postmodern world is all new, there just doesn’t seem to be a reliable map. There is no “Mission for Dummies,” no “Ten Steps for Living Incarnately” (I’ve googled it!). Passing through Christendom someone tried to sell us a map, but now we know better.

These magi have something better. Something ancient yet new that points the way: a star. So, too (cyclic and repetitive, remember?), we have something ancient yet new that points the way: renewed engagement in the spiritual practices that have borne the faith of would-be disciples for millennia. These spiritual practices are deepening our ties with God, others, and the cosmos we occupy in ways that are real and meaningful. They are working themselves out in our lives in terms of amplified attention to hospitality, generosity, and justice and what that looks like in our own contexts.

It is all around us. I hear it in random conversations on the train. I see it in a hundred mundane daily interactions. I feel it in the air-crisper and more breathtaking than the coming snow.

With our eyes no longer blinded by neon Christendom, we are beginning to once again accustom our eyes to what Barbara Brown Taylor calls the “really real.” Then and only then will opportunities begin to emerge from the darkness, and we will be able to see the Hope of the World more clearly.

Prayer Phrase

“Trust what is being born” (Stephen M. Veazey, Words of Counsel, 2019).

Spiritual Practice

Deepen your breathing as you enter a few moments of silent presence to God. Pay attention first to your own life as you gently ask and notice, “What is most alive in me right now? What is being born in me?” After a few moments of silent listening, ask these questions of your community, the church, and the world. Notice how the Spirit is revealing new life and possibility as you prayerfully ask these questions over time.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

The Promise of Love
Stassi Cramm, First Presidency

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. -Isaiah 7:14

In December 1983, I experienced the promise of love in life-changing ways. With family and friends as our witnesses, I married Stephen Cramm on a wintry evening in a Spirit-filled sacramental worship. The people that loved us braved bitterly cold temperatures and treacherous icy roads to meet in a town several hundred miles away. They came because they loved us and promised to walk with us.

Through expressions of personally written vows, Steve and I promised to love each other. I still remember him promising to help me be the person God created me to be. Thirty-six years later, I can report he continues to fulfill that promise.

I am loved by Steve, my family, and friends. This love gives me a glimpse into the love that God sent into the world through the birth of God’s son, Jesus. I realize there are many people who have not experienced the promise of love like I have. Many people are isolated and disconnected from others.

Sometimes this is because of choices or consequences of their making. However, too often it is because of reasons outside of their control. For them, understanding the promise of love that is fulfilled through God’s gift of Jesus to the world is nearly impossible. When people have limited or no experience with human love, understanding or believing the promise of Divine unconditional love becomes unimaginable.

God sends disciples, you and me, into the world to make God’s promise of love real to every person. As disciples we must put love into action through words and deeds. When we embody God’s love that was foretold through Isaiah’s prophecy and fulfilled through the birth of Jesus, we ARE God’s promise of love and everyone is included.

Prayer Phrase

“Trust what is being born” (Stephen M. Veazey, Words of Counsel, 2019).

Spiritual Practice

Deepen your breathing as you enter a few moments of silent presence to God. Pay attention first to your own life as you gently ask and notice, “What is most alive in me right now? What is being born in me?” After a few moments of silent listening, ask these questions of your community, the church, and the world. Notice how the Spirit is revealing new life and possibility as you prayerfully ask these questions over time.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Traditions Cross the Border
Diana Solorio of Austin, TX, USA

He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. -Isaiah 2:4

From my earliest memory, baking has been a part of my holiday tradition. My mom would bake cookies and breads to share with family, friends, and neighbors; and from an early age I was in the kitchen helping out. Living in or near Mexico for a good part of my life, the foods of Latin America also have become a part of that tradition.

During my junior year of high school my mom prepared her usual tray of goodies for our next-door neighbors and delivered them a few days before Christmas. On Christmas Eve our doorbell rang, and there stood our neighbors with a tray of steaming hot tamales, a traditional Christmas Eve meal, fresh from the pot. Tamales are difficult to make-a true labor of love-and usually only shared with family or close friends.

We invited them in, and they shared appreciation for the tray of baked goods. They also wanted to share what they had created in their kitchen. This began a deeper friendship that lasted many years. As the Christmas season approached they would tease us about their expectations for cookies. And on Christmas Eve we would look forward to those delicious tamales.

Little did I know, on that Christmas Eve long ago, a few baked goods would lead to friendships and traditions that I carry on to this day. I wonder if the cast of characters present at the birth of Christ knew what traditions, inspired by that event, would endure to this day. Advent prepares us for the expected tradition and the unexpected mystery.

Prayer Phrase

“Trust what is being born” (Stephen M. Veazey, Words of Counsel, 2019).

Spiritual Practice

Deepen your breathing as you enter a few moments of silent presence to God. Pay attention first to your own life as you gently ask and notice, “What is most alive in me right now? What is being born in me?” After a few moments of silent listening, ask these questions of your community, the church, and the world. Notice how the Spirit is revealing new life and possibility as you prayerfully ask these questions over time.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.