Category Archives: Daily Bread Devotional

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.

He Lights Up the Neighborhood
Barrie Fox of Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”  -Matthew 5:14-16

I have a friend, Malcolm, a Community of Christ member of many years. He lives a busy life and regularly helps his congregation financially and in many other ways.

However, he never has wanted to become active in worship services. He told me he just doesn’t like sitting down and listening or sharing in planned, organized worship services. He firmly believes in God, and although I rarely see Malcolm in church, I see him as a caring disciple who is always willing to help people in need.

Some years ago, doctors diagnosed him with cancer, and he spent much time in a cancer clinic. He has survived, although he has to have periodic clinical reviews. He realizes how God has blessed him, and he is grateful. He is so positive about how important prayer was for him during months of pain, distress, and worry.

One of Malcolm’s responses to this difficult time was to try to do something for others who find themselves with similar issues. In the past few years, he and his wife have lit up their garden with hundreds of Christmas lights on the trees, lawn, and buildings to produce a fantastic Christmas display.

This attracts many visitors to view and donate to the hospital that added years to Malcolm’s life. Through this offering, he seeks to symbolize hope.

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.

Living in the Advent Moment
Barbara Howard of Independence, MO, USA

This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'” -Matthew 3:3

I gather the huge stack of books to clear the table where Christmas decorations await placement. As I lift the books of worship reflections with tabs for Lent carefully marked, I realize I am moving too fast. The load falls from my arms.

As I kneel to gather the scattered papers and books, a sudden insight comes with force. I am not practicing one of the key rules to a spiritual life: Live in each moment.

Christmas is worthy of my full attention. While this does not mean I can’t prepare for Lent at various times during the holiday season, it does call me to awareness of the holy time of Advent.

I’ve been only dimly aware of the power of this season because I’ve focused so intently on the season that follows. I want to live each moment fully, and that means retraining my brain, which is so used to planning ahead.

My preparation and spiritual practices can keep me focused on the meaning of Christmas: to celebrate the birth of Christ, God coming to us in full humanity. This gift is at the heart of all Christian spirituality.

I place the Lenten books on the worktable in the office and return to sit in silence and gratitude for the blessing of Christmastime as a divine gift: God’s love for all humanity. Christmas affirms that unconditional love. The time of silence dissolves the anxiety of future responsibility. Love Incarnate lives in my moment.

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.

Find a Home within Me
Jane Gardner, presiding evangelist

Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. -Matthew 24:42-44

Straining and tuning my ears, I want to hear the refrain, Gloria in excelsis Deo!

But Advent advises that I first must go into the darkness and wait. In my part of the world it truly is the darkness of winter; but, it is also the darkness of doubt, fear, and insecurity. It is absence. It is silence. In the darkness I must carry on the hard work of living. In my better moments, I live based on what I believe is coming. What do I hear?

Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand.

Keep awake in the darkness, the scripture says, “for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” I wait with the not knowing. Not only that-I wait in hope with the not knowing. I invite the breaking in of God to my life, to my world. What do I hear?

O come, O come, Emmanuel…

It is the work of the Advent season in us to listen carefully for the sounds of hope all around. Making space, sacred space, in this season is challenging. At times it is crucial for me to sit with the shepherds on the Galilean hillside in the dark. We are waiting for something. In the inky black of night, faint notes begin to echo over the hills. Am I ready? Am I truly listening? What do I hear?

Angels we have heard on high sweetly singing o’er the plains…

As preoccupied as I am with Advent tasks, the first notes are barely perceptible. But they crescendo and surround me with unfathomable love. The music finds its way into my dark night. What do I hear?

Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King…”

Welcome. Come in. Here is my life, such as is it. Find a home within me- in my head, my heart, my mystery, my actions.

The darkness is lifting as the Light of World takes up residence. What shall I sing?

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

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.

Benedictus
Velma Ruch

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” -Luke 1:13-17

From Finding Home: The Hospitality of God, Graceland University Press, 2006, pp. 38-39

Are you able to visualize biblical characters as real persons? Can you imagine the feelings of Zechariah that day in the temple serving God and the people? He and his wife Elizabeth had remained faithful to God in spite of their barrenness. Could there have been some conflicting emotions in his soul before the sudden appearance of the angel? He had been disappointed so many times in their inability to have a child. No wonder he was a little suspicious when he heard the promise of the angel. But as events unfolded, the depth of his faith came to the fore and he prophesied further about the two, John and Jesus, who were about to be born. It was a song of joy and promise, known to us as the Benedictus. The Christian life has valleys and mountains, but the challenge is to be faithful in the midst of them.

 Blessed be the God of Israel who comes to set us free,
 who visits and redeems us, who grants us liberty.
 The prophets spoke of mercy, of freedom and release;
 God shall fulfill that promise and bring the people peace.

 God from the house of David a child of grace has given;
 a Savior comes among us to raise us up to heaven.
 Before him goes the herald, forerunner in the way,
 the prophet of salvation, the harbinger of day. -Michael Perry, \xc2\xa91973 The Jubilate Group (admin. Hope Publishing Company), CCS 396

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.

Wait in Hope
Susan Oxley of Seattle, WA, USA

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
    to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
    and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
    and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
    and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war any more. -Isaiah 2:3b-4

Despair is everywhere. Political divisions, economic instability, global conflicts, personal relationships, and creation itself are fractured. Most of us feel helpless and hopeless. We see our old familiar world passing away. We have no control or ability to change it.

But hope must not die!

God calls us to activate radical hope-the kind that looks clearly at reality and still holds on to the vision of what can yet be. We need the kind of hope that adapts to changing circumstances without letting go of the values and enduring principles of God’s peaceable kingdom. It is hope that waits for God’s future, but continues to work out the details of daily existence in a manner consistent with that future.

Having already endured and adapted to unexpected problems, a young couple anticipated with joy the arrival of their firstborn. They envisioned a normal birth amid loving family and friends. They looked forward to the familiar rituals and community celebrations of joy. But political realities destroyed the vision. They were forced to journey to a distant city with no accommodations, no comfort, no guarantees. Babies are not supposed to sleep in mangers. But when nothing else is available, creative hope finds a way. Strangers from sheep-studded hills celebrated the birth and told of heavenly messengers who announced it. Hope lived on. The Messiah had come.

The Son of Man was born into a broken world where nothing seemed right. We live in a similarly broken world. But hope lived then, and lives on today. Wait in hope for God’s creative solution, God’s new creation to dawn. But be active and creative in your waiting. Seek life-affirming adaptations that foster peace, joy, loving relationships, and hope.

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.

Walk in Joy
Jane M. Gardner, presiding evangelist

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing…. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. -Isaiah 35:1-2, 5-6, 10

What gives God joy? I suspect that there could be lengthy discussions around this question. From my human vantage point, I’m pretty sure items on any list I develop will come off sounding self-centered and self-serving. Is it joy I feel when I receive a promotion? Or buy a new car? Or get voted “most likely to succeed”? Or get that much hoped-for Christmas gift?

My suspicion is that God’s joy has more to do with justice, righteousness, and wholeness for creation. The exiled children of Israel long to return home and the prophet Isaiah provides words of promise. In Isaiah’s forecasted time of healing and wholeness, a clear and inviting road points the way back home for all the exiles. Those who walk the Holy Way will sing with joy and will forget all sorrow. They will rejoice to think they soon will be released from captivity to begin the journey home.

Despite conquest, oppression, injustice, sickness, and death, the people of Israel live with the knowledge that God cares for them. God will come to be present with them-Emmanuel, God-with-us.

The joyous expectation of the coming Messiah shines through the weeks of Advent. There is a clear and inviting Way coming for all those who are lost or exiled, including us. Along with ancient Israel, we look toward the celebration of the birth of a Messiah. We prepare the wilderness around and within us to receive Him. We sing with joy this message of coming transformation and restoration: “Joy to the World…let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature SING!” (Isaac Watts, CCS 408).

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.

I Held Possibility in My Arms
Joy Howard of Boston, MA, USA

But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, so that those who love your name may exult in you.  -Psalm 5:11

It was our final midnight Christmas Eve service before my wife and I moved to a new parish. An already-magical night was tinged with melancholy for me as I prepared for my last service as a tenor in the choir.

The music director and his wife brought their six-month-old baby girl to the Advent worship service. The mother was the soprano soloist for the first verse of “Once in Royal David’s City.” As the choir lined up outside the sanctuary for the processional, the mother tried to get her baby to fall asleep. It was late, and the baby was so tired she became fussy.

As the organ prelude began to wind down, I said, “Give me the baby. You’ve got to go sing your solo.” My friend put her restless daughter in my arms and left to sing.

I found my place in line and bounced the baby in my arms. Then, from the back of the sanctuary, mom began to sing the soaring melody, unaccompanied. “Once in royal David’s city stood a lowly cattle shed…” When she got to the second line of the hymn, her voice hovering over our heads in the hallway, her daughter was sound asleep in my arms.

As the choir joined in the second verse, I focused that gorgeous tenor line by singing to the baby, rather than to the congregation. “She came down to earth from heaven…” The procession moved slowly through the candlelit sanctuary, and the baby slept through it all. I sang my heart out, tears welling up then spilling over. Most people in the congregation also were weeping.

Afterward, people asked me if we had staged it-my carrying the baby during the Christmas Eve procession. But it was a distillation of a message of the Christmas story. What began as a purely practical solution had transformed into a magical moment. Now every time I hear or sing that song, I feel the weight of possibility slumbering in my arms.

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.

Advent Every Day
John Bonney of Springfield, OR, USA

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.  -John 1:14

What is it about us that we always hope for something better? Too often we look forward to an improvement over what we now experience. When God wants something to be better, what happens? God enters the human experience. God gives us peace through Jesus Christ.

The year draws to a close. The Advent spirit brings celebration to our lives each year. That sense of hope and joy, of excitement and anticipation, is the essence of Advent. We sometimes call it the “Christmas Spirit,” and of course, we’re pointing in that direction, but what we’re experiencing is Advent. It is that time when we excitedly share the peace emanating from a birth of long ago.

Advent unfolds the story, told and retold, which shows us a way-a peaceful way. We have purpose and being through the cause that underlies this birth story. Humanity needed something to be better…something needed to be different. Humanity simply needed “God with skin on.” The life foretold of Jesus of Nazareth was just that, “God with skin on.” It’s an image to excite us. It’s an event to look forward to, to remember, not only each December, but every day.

I am expectant and joyful over the Advent of Christ because God put on skin and joined us in history. I am grateful that every day I can experience Presence with skin on through others in the community. You can be that human, personal expression of Presence in my life repeatedly-every day. In you I can find peace.

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.

We Are “Expecting…”
Lu Mountenay

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. -Romans 15:13

(Lu’s time on Earth ended in May 2019, but her legacy lives on. Lu edited Daily Bread for several years.)

When my nephew, Tyler, was about four years old, he sat on the living room floor and soaked up the Christmas-morning experience. About 20 children and adults in our family engaged in the happy task of opening gifts.

We started at a deliberately slow pace-each person opening one gift at a time. We each wanted to enjoy the moment for each gift and hear each expression of gratitude. But the pace began to speed up as the expectation mounted, and it looked like we might be there all day. (We could smell the turkey cooking and that didn’t help.)

Back to my nephew-he was listening, as well as watching. It finally was his turn, and we handed him a gift, which he looked at with glee. Before he even opened the package he exclaimed, “Wow-just what I always wanted!” And he just looked at it on the floor in front of him with a big grin.

We were all amused. We coaxed him to open the gift, but he said, “I already like it!” I think he was just enjoying the moment. Everyone stopped and enjoyed it with him.

Probably nothing takes more preparation or reveals more anticipation than the birth of a child. How do we prepare? We have nine months to get ready. We say, “We are expecting!” and everyone knows what we are expecting.

How do we prepare for the birth of the Christ child? Do we begin with Advent, or do we anticipate Christ’s presence throughout the year? We expect peace, for peace is on the way. We are expecting!

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.