Advent

This week, we begin the fourth prayer of Advent.

Advent Week 4 – Prayer for Love

Heavenly Father, the whole meaning of Christmas can be explained in a simple four-letter word…LOVE. You sent your gift of pure love to us that first Christmas. Love descended from heaven to be born of a virgin. Love lay in the scratchy hay of a manger in a meager barn in Bethlehem. All of your love, God, was robed in the delicate skin of a baby and wrapped in swaddling clothes. This final week of Advent helps us to reflect on the magnitude of love that was made manifest in Jesus.

The greatest gift of all came that first Christmas. It wasn’t wrapped in a beautiful package and set under a decorated tree. The greatest gift came wrapped in the flesh of baby Jesus and laid in the rough wood of a manger. Our perfect gift would later be rewrapped in the scars of our sin and nailed to the rugged wood of a cross on Calvary, all because of love.

Father, this final week of Advent, fill our hearts and minds with the significance of that truth. Thank you, Lord, for loving us enough, even in our flawed and sinful state, to send Jesus. In Jesus’ precious name, Amen. 

This week, we begin the third prayer of Advent.

Advent Week 3 – Prayer for Joy

This third week of Advent, let us remember that the good news of Jesus’ birth has the power to bring us great joy this Christmas season. Our joy isn’t dependent on what is going on in our life, in our world, or the people that we are with. It doesn’t depend on the gifts we give or the gifts we find under the tree. No earthly thing can ever give us complete joy. Our joy comes from you. That joy that flooded the hearts of the shepherds, the angels, the wise men, the hosts of heaven, and Mary and Joseph is the joy that still has the power to overwhelm our hearts with rejoicing. 

Father, you offer that same joy to us now if we know you and recognize Jesus as our Savior and Lord. You gave us a reason to celebrate when you gave us the unspeakable gift of Jesus Christ. You came to dwell among us. You went to Calvary’s cross for us. You overcame death and rose from the dead for us. You forgive our sins and give us eternal life when we believe in you. 

Our joy doesn’t come from our jobs, our family, our relationships, our finances, or our success. Our joy doesn’t come from what we have on earth or who we are with. Our joy is a gift. It is the gift that you gave us on that first Christmas in Jesus Christ. Our joy is encompassed in our Savior, King Jesus. Flood our hearts with joy this Advent season as we reflect on the good news of Jesus’ birth.

In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen.

This week, we begin the second prayer of Advent.

Advent Week 2 – HOPE.

Prayer for Peace

Father, in a season when every heart should be happy and light, many of us are struggling with the heaviness of life’s burdens that steal the joy right out of our stockings. Tragedy arrives as innocent victims suffer, and an inner voice whispers, “Be afraid!” We need your peace, Jesus. We confess that our hearts are too often filled with wonder of a different kind: wondering when the bills will be paid, when the fear will stop, when rest will come. Will it ever? Is the message still true? In a world where worry, not peace, prevails, stir up that good news again.

This Advent, make it real in our hearts. Never have we needed Your joy and peace more than now. Thank You for the gift of Jesus, our Immanuel, the Word made flesh. We not only need Your peace and joy, Lord, we crave it. You’ve promised rest for the weary, victory for the battle-scarred, peace for the anxious, and acceptance for the broken-hearted—not just at Advent, but every day of every year. Your name is still called “Wonderful,” “Counselor,” “The Mighty God,” “The Everlasting Father,” and “The Prince of Peace.”

We know that peace on earth can only come when hearts find peace with You. You are still our Joy. You are still our Peace. You are no longer a babe in the manger. You are Lord of lords and King of kings. And we still celebrate You as Lord—this Christmas and always.

In Jesus’ precious name, we pray. Amen. 

WEEKLY MEDITATION 1-7 DECEMBER 2025

This week, we begin the first prayer of Advent.

Advent Week 1 – HOPE. A Prayer for Hope

Father, every word in scripture points to the gift of hope that we have because of Christ Jesus. The Christmas story wasn’t the beginning of that message of hope because the Old Testament is full of glimpses of your plan to redeem your people and restore them into a relationship with you, but we can truly begin to see and understand just how great your love for us is when we read the story of Jesus’ birth in scripture.

Help us to see that you are with us. Nothing is too difficult, too messy, or too dirty for you. Jesus came to give us the gift of eternal life through the salvation that only you, our Heavenly Father, can give when we believe in your Son, repent of our sins, and confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior. 

On that first Christmas, you gave us the gift of hope wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. Thank you, Father, for your immeasurable gift. In Jesus’ precious name, we pray. Amen. 

Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella

During this season of Advent, we would like to share some short stories, scripture, poems and essays with you over the coming weeks regarding Jesus’s birth and the indescribable gift we have been blessed with should we chose to accept it. Today we are presenting “Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella”.

Bring a torch, Jeannette, Isabella;

Bring a torch, come swiftly and run.

Christ is born, tell the folk of the village;

Jesus is sleeping in His cradle.

Ah, ah, beautiful is the Mother;

Ah, ah, beautiful is her Son.

Hasten now, good folk of the village;

Hasten now, the Christ-Child to see.

You will fin Him asleep in the manger;

Quietly come and whisper softly,

Hush, hush, peacefully now He slumbers;

Hush, hush peacefully now He sleeps.

The Birth of Jesus

During this season of Advent, we would like to share some short stories, scripture, poems and essays with you over the coming weeks regarding Jesus’s birth and the indescribable gift we have been blessed with should we chose to accept it. Today we are presenting “The Birth of Jesus” by Henry Van Dyke.

The birth of Jesus is the sunrise of the Bible. Towards this point the aspirations of the prophets and the poems of the psalmists were directed as the heads of flowers are turned toward the dawn. From this point a new day began to flow very silently over the world-a day of faith and freedom, a day of home and love. When we remember the high meaning that has come into human life and the clear light that has flooded softly down from the manger-cradle in Bethlehem of Judea, we do not wonder that mankind has learned to reckon history from the birthday of Jesus, and to date all events by the years before or after the Nativity of Christ.

In The Bleak Mid-Winter

During this season of Advent, we would like to share some short stories, scripture, poems and essays with you over the coming weeks regarding Jesus’s birth and the indescribable gift we have been blessed with should we chose to accept it. Today we are presenting “In The Bleak Mid-Winter by Christina Rossetti.

What can I give Him,

Poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd,

I would bring a lamb,

If I were a Wise Man,

I would do my part,-

Yet what can I give Him?

Give my heart.

“December 25…Or Thereabout”

During this season of Advent, we would like to share some short stories, scripture, poems and essays with you over the coming weeks regarding Jesus’s birth and the indescribable gift we have been blessed with should we chose to accept it. Today we are presenting “December 25…Or Thereabout” by Alfred Edersheim.

It was, then, on that “wintery night” of the 25th of December, that shepherds watched the flocks destined for sacrificial service, in the very place consecrated by tradition as that were the Messiah was to be first revealed. Of a sudden came the long-delayed, unthought-of announcement. Heaven and earth seemed to mingle, as suddenly an Angel stood before their dazzled eyes, while the out streaming glory of the Lord seemed to enwrap them, as in a mantle of light. Surprise, awe, fear would be hushed into calm and expectancy, as from the Angel they  heard, that what they saw boded not judgement, but ushered in to waiting Israel the great joy of those good tidings which he brought: that the long-promised Savior, Messiah, Lord, was born in the City of David, and that they themselves might go and see, and recognize Him by the humbleness of circumstances surrounding His Nativity.

 

Some Questions For Joseph

During this season of Advent, we would like to share some short stories, scripture, poems and essays with you over the coming weeks regarding Jesus’s birth and the indescribable gift we have been blessed with should we chose to accept it. Today we are presenting excerpts from “Some Questions For Joseph” by Max Lucado. You can learn more about Max Lucado here.

Knotholes and snapshots and “I wonders”. You’ll find them in every chapter about every person. But nothing stirs so many questions as does the birth of Chris! Characters appear and disappear before we can ask them anything. The innkeeper too busy to welcome God – did he ever learn who he turned away? The shepherds – did they ever hum the song the angels sang? The wise men who followed the star – what was it like to worship an infant? And Joseph, especially Joseph. I’ve got questions for Joseph.

  • Did you and Jesus arm wrestle? Did he ever let you win?
  • Did you ever look up from your prayers and see Jesus listening?
  • How do you say “Jesus” in Egyptian?
  • What ever happened to the wise men?
  • What ever happened to you?
  • What were you thinking when Jesus was being born?
  • Did you pray?
  • Forgive me for asking but…is this how God enters the world?