Prayer
O God our deliverer,
you cast down the mighty,
and lift up those of no account:
as Elizabeth and Mary embraced
with songs of liberation,
so may we also be pregnant with your Spirit,
and affirm one another in hope for the world,
through Jesus Christ, Amen.
A prayer of Janet Morley of England, from All Desires Known
O ancient love, processing through the ages:
O hidden love, revealed in human form:
O promised love, the dream of seers and sages:
O living Love, within our hearts be born.
O homeless love, that dwells among the stranger:
O lowly love, that knows the mighty’s scorn:
O hungry love, that lay within a manger:
O living Love, within our hearts be born.
O... See more
CONFESSION: Lord,
help me to face the truth about myself.
Help me to hear my words as others hear them,
to see my face as others see me;
let me be honest enough to recognize
my impatience and conceit;
let me recognize my anger and selfishness;
give me sufficient humility to accept
my own weaknesses for what they are.
Give me the grace to say, “I was... See more
December 29, 2025 Christmas • Day 5
Simeon waited his whole life not for control, safety, or vindication — but to see.
And when he finally held salvation, it was not triumphal — it was a baby who would fracture the world and his own mother’s heart.
Joy begins in surrender, not certainty.
Light heals by first exposing.
And every household becomes a
Cleansing Lord, when you come again as judge of the living and the dead, you will be like a furnace of judgment that will consume everything evil and ungodly. But you will be a refining fire too, with a glowing, purified creation coming from the flames. Make this world beautiful for you and fitted for your kingdom; purify my heart so... See more
File
Kindle the flint, the tinder
Liven the hearth, the stone
Shelter the dying lantern light
Gladden the shadowed home
Into this wilderness of shadows
Come, Light original
Answer our famine yearning
Nourish our blighted fields
Raise all our fallen storehouses
Leaven the bitter yield
Into this emptiness, this hunger
Come, Bread all-bountiful
Loosen the cloaks of
... See moreDecember 31, 2025 Christmas • Day 7
INVITATION — Psalm 100:1-2
"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs."
Context
After the sobering mortality theology of Ps 90, this is deliberately exuberant. Israel’s response to finitude is not despair but public joy. Worship not as refuge from
... See more