Before we took down the tree each year, Dad would always say a prayer that we would be together the next Christmas. I cling to that prayer, which serves as a reminder that it’s important to be grateful in the present for the people you love because, well, you never know. Catherine Hicks

Meditation: Sometimes we are just able to enjoy what is, and we don’t think much further than being in the here and now. Being able to savor life in this way is a gift. At other times our moments of great joy are accompanied by the awareness that nothing is permanent. This could either tempt us to limit our feelings of joy and stop us from savoring life, or it can heighten our joy and gratitude for what we have and experience. Sometimes I look at my girls. In four years they will be off to college and probably live away from home. This awareness makes me feel a little sad, especially when I look at them from a past perspective and how they and we were as a young family. However, when I choose to see them from the future and from the perspective of who they are becoming, I feel excited, as I see them in a different light. I anticipate us as a family with grown children, as four adults staying connected while living more independent lives. And then the here and now captures both: who we are and were and who we are and will become. The past and the future are interwoven. Holding on and letting go, dancing and weeping, embracing and refraining from embracing are becoming close and not necessarily opposite experiences. Life is more a “both and” than an “either or”…

Prayer: God, we savor this season we call the time “in between the years”. Help us to not see life necessarily as only opposite experiences, but more so as the future and the past being deeply interwoven. Teach us how to sometimes laugh and weep at the same time. Help us mourn and yet enjoy moments of dancing as well. Let us keep what needs keeping, and help us let go of what needs to be thrown away. Fill us with Your joy and Your wisdom when to engage in what, so that we become fully present and remain fully alive. Amen

To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to build up, And a time to break down; A time to keep, And a time to throw away; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing; A time to laugh, And a time to weep; A time to dance, And a time to mourn. Ecclesiastes 3

 

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. Charles Dickens

Meditation: In Germany we are celebrating a second Holiday of Christmas, while in the US life often goes on as usual and Americans have to return to work. However, one day of Holy Day cheer is not enough. Some of us experience the shortness of the Christmas Day as disappointing. Kids try to hold on by playing with their new toys for several days. Adults light the Christmas tree the moment they get back home from work and put on some Christmas music. We don’t want this Christmas time to be so short. We do enjoy these hours when celebration, friendship and family come first. One of the secrets of Christmas is to “honor it in our hearts”. Yes, we cherish our relationships, our family and friends, the memories of precious time shared. And as Christians we especially also honor this gift of God coming into our human experience, of God being with us, of God being close. Keeping these gifts with us: holding on to precious memories and to the awareness of God’s presence with us gives us the hope and the peace we need. And we try to keep those with us all year.

Prayer: Gracious God, thank You that Christmas is not over, only because our daily life kicks back in. Thank You that You are a God of daily life and not only holy, set apart moments. We want to savor and hold onto the precious time of Christmas. Remind us to honor Christmas and its meaning in our hearts, so that we can access it all year round. Amen

Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. Revelation 21:3

One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don’t clean it up too quickly. Andy Rooney

Meditation: Christmas is about God coming into our messes and arriving in our lives no matter what. Thus leaving the living room after the gift opening in a state of disarray for a few hours or days is a symbolic act of acknowledging exactly that. The stable Jesus was born in was messy. The world we are living in today is very messy, personally and politically both nationally and internationally. I am grateful that God is not a God who is only present in “Holy” places like sanctuaries and temples. I am so grateful that we believe in a God who enters history with the birth of a child, and therefore enters our humans’ smallest of places and our messiest of circumstances. We often have the desire to create and present “ideal” and orderly circumstances for God to arrive. Sometimes we teach the next generation “to behave properly” and “to clean up” so that God is pleased with us and would come. However, teaching this, we confuse the “Santa Claus story” with God’s story. God does not depend on us making ourselves and our environment “ideal”. God comes to us no matter what. God stays with us, messy as we might be. This is Christmas. This is truly Good News!

Prayer: God, sometimes we are too tired or sick to get ready for Christmas. Sometimes we don’t have anybody to celebrate with and are all alone for Christmas. Sometimes we just don’t feel like celebrating. Sometimes life is just a mess and Christmas is the last thing on our mind. Thank You for coming anyway. Thank You for seeking us out, especially when we don’t have the energy, joy or money to prepare for Christmas. Thank You that Christmas is not about us getting ready, but You coming, no matter what. And we are grateful. Amen

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 1. John 4:9

God is dead not because He doesn’t exist, but because we live, play, procreate, govern, and die as though He doesn’t. Charles Colson

Meditation: Christmas Eve is the story of God being born to a young mother who had no place to put him but a manger. Many people who usually do not come to church will come to hear this story today. It makes them feel warm and nostalgic perhaps. Childhood memories come back. A myth, a fairy tale for children? Or does this event of God becoming human change anything for us adults in the way we live our life? Does church remain this once a year cultural and social gathering place where we bring our children and grandchildren, or could it become the weekly gathering place where we adults seek God becoming alive again in our lives? Are we still seeking God, do we understand the amazing step God took when he chose to become vulnerable in the story of this man with the name Jesus? Do we understand? Do we seek to understand? Or have we declared God dead intellectually and with our choices in life?

Prayer: God, sometimes reality feels like you do not exist. People go about their lives and business as if you are a one day a year sentimental and heartwarming myth that is meant for children. People might wish you existed, but they do not hold You to be a reality that could change their life. God, as we celebrate You being born once again, touch the hearts and minds of those who come to worship this one day out of the year. Let them begin seeking for You, help them understand, meet them where they are and let them see You in this child who revealed Your essence to us. Amen

The LORD looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Psalm 14:2

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned and it is in giving that we receive. Francis of Assisi

Meditation: There are persons in our life who just cannot admit that they were wrong and ask us for forgiveness. Either their shame or their pride hinder them from doing so. (And sometimes long festering deep shame can look like or become pride). It is painful to be in relationship with somebody who cannot admit or even imagine that he/she unintentionally or intentionally hurt us. What do we do or say when the other person is unwilling or unable to admit wrong doing? Jesus showed us. When we not preemptively attack, but preemptively forgive, we are being set free. Emotionally we might initially not feel much difference as we spiritually practice those words: “He has wronged me. She has hurt me. I forgive them.” Sometimes the persons have already died or we are no longer in contact or relationship with them. Still, to say these words, even if our emotions will still need some time to be fully healed, is an amazingly freeing experience. Sometimes the very first step of granting forgiveness might also need to be to start with ourselves. Self-forgiveness is often the first step we need to take to heal our own shame and pride: “I have wronged somebody. I have hurt somebody. I forgive myself”. And in a second step, we then will and must go and ask that somebody to forgive us, while no longer feeling too ashamed or too prideful to do so.

Prayer: God, you are the advocate for those who got hurt. You know every wound. You count every tear. You feel every punch. Thank You for the life and example of Jesus. His ability to forgive surpassed ours by far, but he inspired us to say those words: “God, I forgive them as they do not know what they are doing.” God, help us with self-forgiveness and confession and also with other-forgiveness. Come, our Brother Jesus, teach us Your way of giving and forgiving. Amen

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Matthew 6:14 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Luke 6:38

This is the message of Christmas: We are never alone. ~Taylor Caldwell

Meditation: Some Christians rush to declare Jesus as “Lord”, “as God himself”, as “Divine”. I know that they are trying to strengthen people’s belief in the specialness, in the divinity of Jesus, the Christ. However, what happens is that Jesus, the human, who was born in a manger, raised by a carpenter family, who had siblings and who had a three year mission to embody God’s presence on earth is being spiritualized or even denied or wiped away. The human existence of Jesus becomes obsolete. His living and suffering among us becomes a side note. His resurrection and glorification become everything. If Jesus was Christ alone, we would need to despair, as we would still be alone. Thanks be to God who entered humanity fully, from natural birth in a stable to a gruesome dying on the cross. Nothing, yes, nothing is beyond God’s experience in Jesus, our Brother. And therefore, we are never alone. And the same Jesus asked for his Healing Spirit to remain with us forever, when he had to physically leave us. What compassion, what identifying love!

Prayer: Jesus, thank you for fully entering humanity with us and for not insisting on your divinity. Sometimes we do injustice to you and to ourselves when we immediately identify You with God, the Almighty. We dismiss all of what you have been through and all that you have shared with us. And because of Your humanity, we are not alone. Because of Your Spirit remaining amongst us as we struggle with our human experiences, we are not alone. Thanks be to God! Amen

 I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper who will be with you forever. John 14:16

Let’s restore sanity and fairness to the tax cut conversation. We simply cannot afford to hand over the bank vault to our nation’s millionaires and billionaires while the middle class picks up spare change. Paul Tonko

Meditation: We can’t afford what is happening. Millionaires and Billionaires are increasing their financial power, and now that many of them sit in government positions, their political power is also being increased. What is happening seems absurd in light of it happening right before Christmas. Christmas is the message that God is entering our world in a poor couple’s child who soon will become a refugee on top of being poor. How is this image of God reconcilable with our current power hungry leaders who shield their money from being contributed to society while dismantling hundreds of programs for children, the elderly and the poor? Psalm 2 with its image that God has the final laugh and makes fun of those leaders who scheme together against the poor comforts me. God makes fun of those who think they are in control. He laughs about those who steal other people’s basic needs. And then God gets angry as the Psalm moves on. Just as we are angry about what just happened. But this is not the last word. God will have the last word. And God always watches out for the forgotten, the downtrodden and the disadvantaged.

Prayer: God, we feel angry and discouraged. We wish we could laugh with you and make fun of our corrupt leaders as you are. Help us keep faith. Help us keep a broader perspective. God, thank You for being angry with leaders who scheme against those who you anoint: the poor, the sick, the dying, the refugees, the children, the elderly and the forgotten. Remind us that You are having the last word and the last laugh in history. Amen

The earth’s rulers take their stand; the leaders scheme together against the Lord and against his anointed one. “Come!” they say. “We will tear off their ropes and throw off their chains!” The one who rules in heaven laughs; my Lord makes fun of them. Psalm 2: 2-4

If you have something dark in your soul, ask the Lord for forgiveness. Christmas is a great opportunity to cleanse the soul. Pope Francis

Meditation: As Christmas is coming close, we all rush to complete our “to do” lists. We check off what we have done and look over what still needs to happen before we can celebrate the arrival of Christ. “Cleansing my soul” was not really on my list for Christmas. So, Pope Francis surprises me with his invitation to see Christmas as an opportunity to let God shine light into my dark places. I surely had thought of cleaning my kitchen to get ready for Christmas, but had not contemplated cleaning my conscience from all destructive forces. Those items don’t fit on my “to do” list. “Asking for forgiveness” and “having my heart sprinkled clean” are not things I do or allow easily. There is so much business that hides my pride and my denial. Can I slow down enough to even notice what my dark places are? Do I even know what I need forgiveness for? What are the destructive energies in my life that need to be washed away? Advent means drawing near with a sincere heart and in full assurance and trust that God born in a manger has the power and authority to wipe my darkness and my destructive energies away. Christmas brings light. Christmas shows the tangible Grace and Forgiveness of God upon which we can stand. Let me put my “to do” list away for a moment and light a candle. I notice, yes, I need the light.

Prayer: Forgiving God, help us overcome our denial, our business and our pride and let us acknowledge that there is darkness within us. Let us draw near to You, while not only cleaning our home, but allowing You to cleanse us from all that makes us sick and tired. Take our negative and destructive thoughts. Take our grudges and lack of gratitude. Let us see Christmas as an opportunity for us to have light shine into our dark places. Thank You for Your Grace that is new every morning, and new every Christmas. Amen

Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrew 10:22

The holidays stress people out so much. I suggest you keep it simple and try to have as much fun as you can. Giada De Laurentiis

Meditation: The Holidays often put many external and internal pressures on us. We feel obligated to go to different parties, some we enjoy, others we could have done without. We stress about getting gifts, writing Christmas card and sending packets off to those who live far away. And then the food. Planning, shopping and actually preparing the food takes quite some energy… When we remember what Christmas is about, we see the image of a new born child in a manger. I imagine that time stood still for that young family and that rest and recovery were the words of the hour. I wonder if “God’s command” for us is to keep it simple this season. What can I do without? Where can I save some energy? How can I simplify my planning and expectations? A lot of the stress we feel we create for ourselves by trying to “please” or satisfy certain family or cultural norms. Our spiritual body wants to remind us that “less is more”. Let us delight in this message and take it to heart. Let us join the holy family by adding rest and recovery time during the holy days this year.

Prayer: God, we feel stressed these days, even troubled or distressed with all the demands pulling on us. Help us discern what we can let go of. Help us focus on the essentials. Free us from anxiety about what others might think or how we might disappoint…Give us the wisdom to slow down, to enjoy these special days and delight in each other more so than in external items we buy or prepare. Remind us over and over again that less is more. Amen

Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands give me delight. Psalm 119:143

You can never really live anyone else’s life, not even your child’s. The influence you exert is through your own life, and what you’ve become yourself. Eleanor Roosevelt

Meditation: Parenting has been and still is the most complex journey of learning about myself I have ever taken. My children have challenged me to become a better mother and a better person. With “better” I mean a more conscious person, especially now that they can give me poignant feedback. “Mom, when you look down at your phone when you are standing in front of the cashier, you seem disrespectful”. “Mom, please, don’t speak so loud on the phone. That sounds like you are angry.” “Mom, when you always remind me, I can’t grow up and do the things I need to do on my own”. Especially now as teenagers, they tell me that they have their own life to live, and that my way or my style is not necessarily theirs. At the same time they sometimes surprise me by telling me that they want to have at least two jobs and have at least two children, just like me. They say that they read about feminism and are interested in psychology and in spiritual things. What Eleanor Roosevelt says is true. I need to refrain from identifying too much with my daughters’ lives and instead continue working on myself and trusting that who I am will have a positive influence on them.

Prayer: God of growth and of freedom, thank You for the awesome and humbling journey of being a parent. Thank You for the sometimes eye opening and even painful feedback of my daughters. Thank You that they are becoming their very own women by pushing away and by pushing against me. Thank You that they nevertheless love me and allow me to influence them. Help me to be humble enough to never stop working on myself, so that they will do the same. Amen

Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 1. Peter 5: 2-3