Christmas Day

Our readings for Christmas Day are:

1. Isaiah 52: 7-10
2. Psalms 98: 1, 2-3, 3-4, 5-6
3. Hebrews 1: 1-6
4. John 1: 1-18

• Singing ruins
• It's easy to lose our way.  We lose sight of the giver and settle for the gift instead.  Maybe because we don't understand the true nature of gift.
• What are some of the gifts that God has given you in your life?  Maybe friends or family who have sustained you, talents that you have been able to share with others, an experience.
• How have you been changed by that gift?
• Did there ever come a time when you had to give that gift up?
• How did that change you?
• Do you think that you have made the best use of all of your gifts?
• Why?

• Reminding God
• The most powerful form of prayer comes when we remind God of His essential nature.  At that point in our prayer life, we have moved beyond treating God as some cosmic Santa Clause.  We have entered mysticism, we are relating to God out of appreciation for His incredible goodness.  We have fallen head over heels in love.
• Think of a time when you were desperate for God to do something for you.  How did you pray?
• How did God respond?
• How did that response change you?
• Did you expect that?
• Why?

• Are you talking to me?
• We all tell stories.  The ones that begin with "when I was your age" are often directed to just one person, so you know who the speaker is talking to.  Often the rest of the conversation sets the context for the story, so the listener has an idea of the import of the story.  Salvation history is God's story telling to us.
• Looking back on your life of this past year, what do you think God has been trying to tell you?
• Can you imagine yourself telling stories from this past year to others in the years ahead?
• What lessons do you think that you might try to impart in those stories?

• Refulgence
• That's a word that is a tough one to work into a sentence.  "My, you are simply refulgent in that dress."  What woman could resist that?  Try it and tell me how it goes.  And yet, it describes Jesus' presence among us, in spite of the fact that so few realized who He was.
• If someone were to ask you "prove to me that God exists by your life", what would you say?
• Where would you start?
• If you had a year's warning of that challenge, would this past year have gone any differently for you?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Where is God doing a work of rebuilding in my life that I need to help?
2. Where can my prayer get closer to the heart of God?
3. What events of this last week should I spend some time pondering?
4. Where is God calling me to be His glory?

Shalom!