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Renewal Through Routine
The Upper Room Disciplines has been a source of strength and comfort to readers for decades. Read More
Cherisna Jean-Marie | Read Galatians 4:4-7
My biological parents were respected community leaders in the Haitian community where I grew up in New Jersey. They would often tell me that bearing their name came with a certain type of privilege and responsibility. Who they were in the community was often associated with who I was as...
Dear God, teach us to be active participants of your works in the world through your name—for your name bears witness to the hope we seek. Amen.
As we celebrate the birth of our Savior, we do so with cries of praise to God. Isaiah delights and rejoices in God, who will bring reconciliation to all nations. Psalm 148 declares that all of creation praises the Lord, for creation knows who formed and sustains it. Paul explains to the Galatians that God sent Jesus to redeem us, and as a result we may now call out to God as God’s children. In the Gospel reading, Luke sets the story of Jesus within the history of the Israelites. Both Simeon and Anna are devout people, filled with the Holy Spirit. They have been praying for God to send the Redeemer, and God gives them insight to recognize him as Jesus. Praise be to God for this indescribable gift!
Read Isaiah 52:7-10. How are you spreading the message of peace in Christ? From whom have you heard that message?
Read Psalm 148. Pause and consider the joy of God’s coming salvation for the whole world.
Read Galatians 4:4-7. Consider your identity as a child of God through Christ. What joy does this identity bring you?
Read Luke 2:22-40. How can you, like Anna, joyously proclaim the freedom and redemption Christ brings all of humanity?
Respond by posting a prayer.
