Saturday, December 29- PSALM 96

“Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it” (vv 11-12)

This psalm uplifts the spirits. It calls us to sing a new song, to bless and praise God, for all that God is, all that God does, for how God reigns.

This week we celebrate Christ’s birth, our Emmanuel, God with us, who shows us exactly what God is like. He shows us the heart of God and what the reign of God looks like.

Jesus extends mercy and forgiveness. He issues peace deeper than all of life’s troubles. Jesus heals, restores, and makes whole. He loves us unconditionally, beyond our imaginings. He comforts the brokenhearted and lifts up the oppressed. He brings the marginalized into the center. No one is unseen. Each person is of immeasurable worth. Grace abounds.

Looking at who our God is, how can we not sing? How can we not praise our God? This is the reign we are a part of, the reign we are to participate in and reflect.

May we be reflections of you and your reign, Lord Jesus. Amen.

(The devotions for Christmas week were originally written by Rev. Eva Sullivan-Knoff for the Covenant Home Altar. They are used with permission here)

Friday, December 28- JOHN 1:15-18

God’s desire to be connected to us was so expansive that God does this amazing thing. God showed us the full expression of who he is, the fullest expression of his love and grace, by sending Jesus from God’s heart to our heart, from God’s side to our side.

Look how much we are loved. We are given grace upon grace, gift upon gift, love upon love. God holds nothing back from us. God gives all that God has to give. God, wanting us to really know Godself chose to have Jesus come, someone with skin on. Someone who could be touched, seen, and heard. Wow.

Jesus knows. Jesus knows the messiness of our lives, our struggles, our ups and downs. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, because he knows.

If you ever wonder if you matter, if you ever wonder if you are seen at all, if you ever wonder if you are alone, know that you are of inestimable worth, and Jesus walks beside you.

Thank you, Lord. May your love permeate our lives. Amen.

(The devotions for Christmas week were originally written by Rev. Eva Sullivan-Knoff for the Covenant Home Altar. They are used with permission here)

Thursday, December 27- JOHN 1:1-14

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (v.1).

John 1, beautifully poetic, draws us into the tender lyrics of God’s love song to us. Since the beginning of time, God has envisioned, desired, and loved us. Jesus the Word and God conceived humankind in God’s own image, thereby imprinting Jesus’s fingerprints on each of us. Think on it. We bear God’s DNA.

Jesus embodies his love for us by being enfleshed as one of us to live and walk among us. Jesus does so because we are God’s own. So he sings over us like a parent sings over their beloved child. His melody brings light into our darkness, peace into our chaos, breathing life into our lives. His is an ongoing, everflowing melody that touches all of humanity and all of our lives. Never have we been so loved.

May his love song bring abiding peace into our lives this day. May its rhythm ring out in our lives.

Thank you, gracious God, for singing your love song over us. Help us to always hear and join in the refrain, Amen.

(The devotions for Christmas week were originally written by Rev. Eva Sullivan-Knoff for the Covenant Home Altar. They are used with permission here)

Wednesday, December 26 – LUKE 2:15-20

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” (v. 14).

The shepherds believed the angel’s words to them. They believed that God had done this awesome thing. They listened. They paid attention. They responded. It changed their lives and they bore witness to what God had told them.

What a good word for us. Jesus is present in our lives and in the rhythm of our days. He speaks to us and is active in our lives. We are invited to listen, to pay attention, to respond, and to bear witness. It will change our lives and the lives of those around us.

There is a spiritual practice called practicing the presence of God. It is about attuning to God in everyday moments. It is conversing with God in an ongoing conversation, paying attention to what God is doing in the moment, and seeking to respond to and with God in the world around us. This is possible because Jesus is our Emmanuel, God with us. Thanks be to God.

Thank you, Lord Jesus. Help us to be attentive to you. Amen.

(The devotions for Christmas week were originally written by Rev. Eva Sullivan-Knoff for the Covenant Home Altar. They are used with permission here)

Tuesday, December 25- LUKE 2:1-14

Look at the circumstances of Jesus’ birth. Under another government’s rule, pregnant Mary, Joseph, and God’s chosen people are forced to register for a census. It is not the best time to be traveling, but this is the backdrop of Jesus’ birth.

Always an upside-down kingdom: Jesus chose to be born into the messiness of our world and lives. Always an upside-down kingdom: Jesus chose to enter our world not as a rightful king, but as an infant, vulnerable, poor, and reliant on our hospitality and care. Always an upside-down kingdom: who was chosen to hear about the birth first? Shepherds on the margins. The angels announced Christ’s birth by giving them a personal concert.

God’s expansive love reaches far and wide into the messiness of our lives, including all to give life to all-God’s upside-down kingdom. What a gift! Look at how much we are loved.

Lord, our gratitude is beyond words.  Thank you for loving us so much. Help us to love you well. Amen.

(The devotions for Christmas week were originally written by Rev. Eva Sullivan-Knoff for the Covenant Home Altar. They are used with permission here)

Monday, December 24 – ISAIAH 52:7-10

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns’” (vs 7).

The Israelites are living in exile. Jerusalem and the temple are lying in ruins. They were awaiting news from the battlefield that victory was theirs. They are far from home and enslaved when the good news finally comes. God enters in and brings victory and relief. The response is one of joy and singing praises for what God has done.

This evening we celebrate Christ’s birth, who enters history during a time of oppression, when God’s people are awaiting good news once again. Only this time, the good news was greater than anything they could have imagined. God enters into the very fabric of our lives as one of us. He knew and experienced the oppression found in this world and overcame it. We continue to experience it but we are not alone. Christ is in the midst of our lives, and his presence brings life and peace. So we lift our hearts and voices in praise. Thank you, our Emmanuel, God with us, Amen.

Sunday, December 23 (Fourth of Advent) – Luke 1:39-55

“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” (v. 41).

In the midst of God’s story, God uses two women, Mary and Elizabeth. Each living out their special role in challenging circumstances-one pregnant outside of marriage, the other an old woman about to give birth-God gives them to each other. Just as one baby bears witness to the other by leaping, Mary and Elizabeth bear witness to each other’s stories and lives, connected to one another. They live out their part in God’s story in community. Just as Jesus becomes embodied in human flesh, God gives these significant women someone with skin on for the journey.

I love Mariotto Albertinelli’s artistic masterpiece, The Visitation, which I was privileged to see last summer in Florence. He beautifully depicts the encouragement that Mary and Elizabeth are to one another. It is palpable.

God doesn’t leave us alone. God gives us community, someone with skin on, to embody that God is indeed Emmanuel, God with us.

Emmanuel, thank you for the gift that you give us in one another as we live out our stories with you. Amen.

(The devotions for Christmas week were originally written by Rev. Eva Sullivan-Knoff for the Covenant Home Altar. They are used with permission here)