Wednesday, December 24
Christmas Eve

Silent night! Holy night! All is calm, all is bright ‘round yon virgin mother and child! Holy infant, so tender and mild, sleep in heavenly peace.

Tonight marks the end of our Advent preparation as we stand on the threshold of our Christmas feast and look back at how our hearts have been formed by the music and prayer we’ve engaged in together. The songs we’ve been praying with have created a disposition within us—something that begins as a feeling but is more like a posture. The music has been giving us shoes to stand in before God and has shaped the silence of our prayer.

This holy night may be full of the sounds of preparation and conversation and family and celebration but is also full of solemn, quiet wonder. Tonight, we bow before the gift of God with-us, who not only waits to meet us in prayer but also comes to stand in our shoes.

Prayer for Morning
Christ our Savior, as I listen for your voice speaking in my life, help me to hear your heart beating with mine, for you are closer than I can imagine. Lord Jesus, make me calm and bright.

Ponder Today
How can I step into silence today—even just a few minutes—to anchor my entry into this feast?

Prayer for Evening
Christ our Savior, you are the Son of God and love’s pure light. Help me see your glory streaming toward us. Lord Jesus, bring me your heavenly peace.

Creator of the Stars of Night
Translator: J. M. Neale

Creator of the stars of night,
your people’s everlasting light,
O Christ, Redeemer of us all,
we pray you, hear us when we call.
In sorrow that the ancient curse
should doom to death a universe,
you came to save a ruined race
with healing gifts of heav’nly grace.
When earth drew on to darkest night,
you came, but not in splendor bright,
not as a king, but the child
of Mary, virgin mother mild.
At your great name, majestic now,
all knees must bend, all hearts must
bow; all things on earth with one accord join those in heav’n to call you Lord. To God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, Three in One, praise, honor, might, and glory be from age to age eternally.

Monday, December 22
Fourth Week of Advent

When earth drew on to darkest night, you came, but not in splendor bright, not as a king, but the child of Mary, virgin mother mild.

Here, on the other side of the winter solstice, is a good time to appreciate light as a precious commodity and acknowledge how much we depend on it. As much as we depend on the natural light of the sun, we need the light of God’s love even more. When we turn away from the Light of the World, we get lost, we stumble, and we lose hope.

Sometimes this means we fall into the darkness of sin, but even more often, we live in a kind of gray dusk where everything looks the same. It can be hard to believe that there’s something transcendent behind the dullness of the ordinary, where little changes about our lives. Without a sense of wonder, our daily lives can seem burdensome.

Jesus came to be with us, which means these burdens are places where he is ready to share his everlasting life and light with us.

Prayer for Morning
Light of the World, you came to bring us divine life, becoming human in all things. Help me welcome your love, which brings warmth and color, so I can see clearly and live with boldness. Jesus, bring me your light.

Ponder Today
How can I invite Jesus to be with me in the insignificant parts of my day?

Prayer for Evening
Light of the World, we walk in darkness when we try to live without you. Draw me again to your everlasting light, where I find eternal purpose. Jesus, bring me your love.

Sunday, December 21
Fourth Week of Advent
Love

Creator of the stars of night, your people’s everlasting light, O Christ, Redeemer of us all, we pray you, hear us when we call.

In this last week of Advent, in the final days before our Christmas feast, we take on the disposition of expectant stillness. In today’s gospel reading, we join Mary as she visits her cousin Elizabeth—both of them aware of a great mystery unfolding in their bodies, one that will change the course of history but remains hidden.

This ancient hymn we pray with today and tomorrow captures a paradox we embrace every Advent: God is presented as Creator of the stars of night, which are grand, vast, distant, and cold; at the same time, God came to us not as a powerful king but in that tender moment when parents hold their infant for the first time. The fact that both of these images of God are true pulls us into wonder and humility.

Prayer for Morning
Almighty God, you are our creator and the one who fashioned the churning galaxies. Despite your power and majesty, help me to believe that you are close to me. Come near to me and increase my capacity to perceive you present and growing within me. Creator, make me new.

Ponder Today
When will I be able to practice wonder and humility today?

Prayer for Evening
Almighty God, you are a mystery unfolding in each of our lives. Help me to remember that each act of love—even the seemingly insignificant—is a participation in your life. Creator, help me see your nearness.

Saturday, December 20
Third Week of Advent

Dear Savior, haste! Come, come to earth. Dispel the night and show your face, and bid us hail the dawn of grace.

Jesus has already come to earth—so what are we praying for so urgently? Advent is a time to cultivate the virtue of patience. In becoming aware of our need for a savior, we develop an urgent longing to encounter him soon—now. The gap between our longing and his coming is a place where we can sit firmly to wait for him to show his face.

This kind of waiting is the practice of Christian hope. Unless Jesus’s second coming arrives before then, we know the world will not be drastically different on December 25. But we can be different. Indeed, we are supposed to be different because of our watching and waiting.

Prayer for Morning
Jesus, you came to earth two thousand years ago, and you will return one day to transform this world with your glory. Until then, come to the patch of earth I will tread today and be my companion. Dear Savior, I wait for you.

Ponder Today
When will I encounter impatience today, and how can I translate that into prayer?

Prayer for Evening
Jesus, as we prepare to welcome you anew into our lives with our Christmas feast, you reveal to us all the ways you are already acting in our experience to bring us life. Draw me closer to the Father with you. Dear Savior, show me your life giving ways.

Friday, December 19
Third Week of Advent

You come in peace and meekness and lowly will your cradle be; all clothed in human weakness shall we your Godhead see.

Most Nativity scenes enshrine the Holy Family in light and peaceful wonder. The soft glow emanating from the manger where the baby Jesus lay tells us of the consolation of God’s nearness, but the night of Jesus’s birth must have felt out of control for Mary. It’s not hard to imagine Mary’s exhaustion and Joseph’s worries. Jesus almost certainly cried.

This hymn reminds us that Christ still comes “clothed in human weakness” and that we can see his divinity in poverty—our own and our world’s. With the eyes of faith, we can find Jesus reaching for us in all those who are impoverished and in our own weakness.

Prayer for Morning
Jesus, our Savior, you reveal the Father’s tender mercy and compassion. When I feel out of control or powerless, you are by my side. Help me turn to you when I am weak, to rely on your love as the foundation of my life. Jesus, my brother, you are my strength.

Ponder Today
Where will I encounter vulnerability today, and how will I find Jesus there?

Prayer for Evening
Jesus, our Savior, you came into the most broken parts of our humanity
to raise us to the splendor of divine life. Increase my faith so that I look to
you and cling to you when that divine life feels far away. Jesus, my brother,
hold me close.

Thursday, December 18
Third Week of Advent

O Christ, whom nations sigh for, whom priest and prophet long foretold, come, break the captive’s fetters, redeem the long-lost fold.

Our Advent waiting should change the way we see. Our preparation should teach us how to welcome Christ into our lives and how to recognize the ways Christ is already acting in our daily experience. Advent is an apprenticeship into life in the kingdom of God. We are practicing new ways to recognize and participate in this reign that is already with us.

This apprenticeship means seeing the world from Christ’s point of view—to see what God desires for us. This vision faces continual challenges from the world and from our own self centeredness. Over and over, we fall short of God’s dreams for us. So we pray for hope and courage and sing with this hymn for redemption in Christ.

Prayer for Morning
Creator, you created me for fullness of life in union with you through your Son. Grant me perseverance to keep striving for life with you and an open heart to recognize all the ways you share your love with me. God of Love, bring me closer to you today.

Ponder Today
What does my life look like through God’s eyes? What are his desires for me?

Prayer for Evening
Creator, you continue to remake the world, moment by moment, as you establish your kingdom here on earth. Help me see your creative work in my life and respond with gratitude. God of Love, may your kingdom come.

Wednesday, December 17
Third Week of Advent

O come, divine Messiah; the world in silence waits the day when hope shall sing its triumph and sadness flee away.

What does it sound like for hope to “sing its triumph”? How is the world
waiting in silence? And what does it mean that both images come alive for
us in music that is filling our ears and hearts?

Our experience of the world is not very quiet. Even when we strip away the noises we layer over our lives, we are surrounded by constant sounds vying for our attention. But the kind of silence we’re singing about is more like stillness. There is a space in our center that is quiet stillness if we can peel back the layers of distraction to make room for it. Advent is a good time to practice stepping into that space, even when our world is noisy, because that is where we meet our divine Messiah.

Prayer for Morning
Divine Messiah, you came to earth to dispel the night with the dawn of
grace. Help me empty myself to make room for you, and let your light
and peace sing their triumph in my heart. Jesus, I wait for you in stillness.

Ponder Today
In the midst of all this day will bring, when can I step into stillness?

Prayer for Evening
Divine Messiah, you are the fulfillment of my longing, but I too easily fill
this desire with lesser goods. Help me to set aside the things that crowd
out your silent, waiting presence, for you long for me too. Jesus, show me
your face.

Tuesday, December 16
Third Week of Advent

By thine own eternal spirit rule in all our hearts alone; by thine all sufficient merit, raise us to thy glorious throne.

The peaks and valleys of the melody we’ve been praying with this week mirror the movements in the prayerful words. The music feels like ascending
and descending flights of steps. We pray for a long-expected gracious king
to bring us freedom and rest. And we pray for the reign of this Savior to
lift us up: “By thine own eternal spirit rule in all our hearts alone . . . raise
us to thy glorious throne.”

This is why God came among us as one of us: to let us share in the
divine life of the Trinity. This transformation can only happen when we let Christ “rule in our hearts.” Entrusting ourselves to a savior means shaping our lives according to his life. This obedience looks confining to the world, but we know it leads us to freedom because it makes us into the people we were created to be: God’s own children, destined for heaven.

Prayer for Morning
Holy Spirit, you are the breath of the Creator within us, bringing us life.
Breathe in me and through me; sustain me in your communion with the
Father and the Son. Spirit of glory, raise me up.

Ponder Today
What part of my daily experience do I keep to myself, and how can I invite
Jesus to rule there?

Prayer for Evening
Holy Spirit, restore in me the image of our Creator. Help me to conform
my life to Jesus so I can share more fully in his divine life. Spirit of glory,
lead me to freedom.

Monday, December 16
Third Week of Advent

Born thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a King, born to reign in us forever, now thy gracious kingdom bring. For an Advent song, there is a startling lack of a manger scene or Nativity story—no angels or shepherds in this song we continue praying with today. This is a hymn about longing for Christ to come again in justice and glory, and that names us part of a people who have long awaited this Savior.

We experience injustice everywhere, in our own relationships and among the nations. Yet we wait for Christ to come and make all things—not just us—right and whole. This is awaiting that builds our hope, deepens our resolve, and shores up the resilience we need to work for the kingdom of God. The watchful longing we practice throughout Advent allows us to find joy and light where the world sees only darkness because we know the Lord is near.

Prayer for Morning
God our Creator, you made me with a heart to search and know you, and
you do not refuse to answer my longing for you. Grow my desire for the
gifts you have to give me. God of hope, send your Son into my life.

Ponder Today
What is competing with my desire for the Lord today?

Prayer for Evening
God our Creator, you made me for joy. Incline my heart toward your grace
so that I can look for your coming to me with confidence and hope. God
of hope, center me in your love.