Week 2: Day 7

Scripture: Luke 2: 1-5

These words fill me with so much cheer and wonder and magic, “In

those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus…” They transplant me into a full sanctuary that smells of pine and sounds like Christmas carols, peeling last year’s dripping wax off of the candle in my hand. Words that for my entire life have announced the coming of the King. Words that I knew by heart before I ever understood. Words that began the story that changed everything.

Words that bring us to Bethlehem and to the manger.

Words that invite us to stay a while and look a little bit closer.

As for Bethlehem, that blazing star still sailed the dark, but only looked for me.

Caught in its light, listening again to its story, I curled against some sleepy breast, who nuzzled my hair as though I were a child, and warmed me the best it could all night.

-Mary Oliver, Twelve Moons

Words that meet you no matter where you are and where you have been. Words announcing the beginning of the rescue to those of us who need it terribly and those of us who don’t think we need it at all. Words that ask you to pause and consider where you have been and who is coming.

Prayer: 

O Holy Spirit, as the sun is full of light, the ocean full of water, heaven full of glory, so may my heart be full of you. Give me eyes to see Jesus and the realities of the unseen world. Give me yourself without measure, as an unimpaired fountain, as inexhaustible riches. I bewail my coldness, poverty, emptiness, imperfect vision, lazy service, prayerless prayers, and praiseless praises. May I not resist seeing you. Come as power, to expel every rebellious bone in me, to reign supreme and keep me yours. Come as teacher, leading me into all truth, filling me with all understanding. Come as love, that I may adore the Father, and love him as my all. Come as joy, to dwell in me, move in me, animate me. Come as light, illuminating the Scripture, molding me in its laws. Come as sanctifier, body, soul and spirit wholly yours. Come as helper, with strength to bless and keep, directing my every step. Come as beautifier, bringing order out of confusion, loveliness out of chaos. Magnify to me your glory by being magnified in me, and make me full of your fragrance.

Amen (adapted from Valley of Vision)