new, day 5

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ,

      Thou Son of the Most High, Prince of Peace, be born into our world. Wherever there is war in this world, wherever there is pain, wherever there is loneliness, wherever there is no hope, come, thou long-expected one, with healing in thy wings.

      Holy Child, whom the shepherds and the kings and the dumb beasts adored, be born again. Wherever there is boredom, wherever there is fear of failure, wherever there is temptation too strong to resist, wherever there is bitterness of heart, come, thou blessed one, with healing in thy wings.

      Saviour, be born in each of us who raises his face to thy face, not knowing fully who he is or who thou art, knowing only that thy love is beyond his knowing and that no other has the power to make him whole. Come, Lord Jesus, to each who longs for thee even though he has forgotten thy name. Come quickly. Amen. (The Hungering Dark by Frederick Buechner)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 98

Scripture for the Day: Luke 2:36-40

Reading for Reflection:

You have an idea of what the new country looks like.  Still, you are very much at home, although not truly at peace, in the old country.  You know the ways of the old country, its joys and pains, its happy and sad moments.  You have spent most of your days there.  Even though you know that you have not found there what your heart most desires, you remain quite attached to it.  It has become part of your very bones.

     Now you have come to realize that you must leave it and enter the new country, where your Beloved dwells.  You know that what helped and guided you in the old country no longer works, but what else do you have to go by?  You are being asked to trust that you will find what you need in the new country.  That requires the death of what has become so precious to you: influence, success, yes, even affection and praise.

     Trust is so hard, since you have nothing to fall back on.  Still, trust is what is essential.  The new country is where you are called to go, and the only way to go there is naked and vulnerable.

     It seems that you keep crossing and recrossing the border.  For a while you experience a real joy in the new country.  But then you feel afraid and start longing again for all you left behind, so you go back to the old country.  To your dismay, you discover that the old country has lost its charm.  Risk a few more steps into the new country, trusting that each time you enter it, you will feel more comfortable and be able to stay longer. (The Inner Voice of Love by Henri J. M. Nouwen)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: O Little Town of Bethlehem

O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see the lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by;
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee to-night.

For Christ is born of Mary, And gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars, together
Proclaim the holy birth!
And praises sing to God the King,
And peace to men on earth.

How silently, how silently,
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of his heaven.
No ear may hear his coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him, still
The dear Christ enters in

Where children pure and happy
Pray to the blessed Child,
Where misery cries out to thee,
Son of the mother mild;
Where charity stands watchingAnd faith holds wide the door,
The dark night wakes, the glory breaks,
And Christmas comes once more.

O holy Child of Bethlehem!
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in,Be born in us to-day.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel!

Closing Prayer
O Lord our God, may something new be born in us this day, as well as this season—this season where we celebrate your birth into this cold and cruel world. This season where we rejoice over your amazing arrival to live among us; to give us light and life and hope and peace. We pray this in the Name of Jesus. Amen. (JLB)