Category Archives: 2013 Christmas Devotional

On Christmas morning in my family, before we open our gifts, we light a candle, symbolic of Christ’s presence and the light he brings to the world. Then we read the Christmas story as found in Matthew and Luke, and then we pray. It seems appropriate to end these reflections in the same way. I invite youContinue reading “Day 28-The Christmas Story in Matthew and Luke”

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the lightContinue reading “Day 27-The Light of the World”

            In the times of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observe hos star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” (Matthew 2:1-2)   LukeContinue reading “Day 26-The Visit of the Magi”

“This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:12)  “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.” (John 6:35a)             After Jesus was born, he was wrapped in strips of cloth and placed inContinue reading “Day 25-The Meaning of the Manger”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the  manger.Continue reading “Day 24-The Shepherds’ Response”

“This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And sudden;y there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven,  and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” (Luke 2:12-14)Continue reading “Day 23-The Angelic Chorus”

            In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see-I am bringing youContinue reading “Day 22-A Message to the Shepherds”

            It’s likely that Mary and Joseph had remained in Nazareth so Mary could give birth in her hometown before moving to Bethlehem. But just weeks before Mary was to give birth, a Roman census make it necessary for the young couple to make their way from Nazareth to Bethlehem.             Most scholars say thereContinue reading “Week Four-The Journey”

            In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. (Luke 2:8)                                     Garrison Keillor writes the following descriptions of shepherds in his foreword to Ron Parker’s The Sheep Book: A Handbook for the ModernContinue reading “Day 21-Night-Shift Shepherds”

            While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (Luke 2: 6-7)                 After ten days ofContinue reading “Day 20-No Room In the Guest Room”