A Child Has Been Born For Us: Christmas Daybook 1
Opening prayer: Heavenly Father, make me more like Jesus and more like the true self you’ve created as I savor your loving presence today. Please guide my thoughts and impressions by your Holy Spirit. Amen.
Look: Adoration of the Magi Altarpiece, left hand predella panel depicting the Nativity, Gentile da Fabriano - Source
Listen: Infant Holy, Infant Lowly, The Porter’s Gate [feat.Paul Zach & Lauren Plank Goans] - Spotify | YouTube | Lyrics & Score
Read: Isaiah 9:2-7; Psalm 96; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-20
Excerpts:
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined. …
For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”
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”Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts. Worship the Lord in holy splendor; tremble before him, all the earth.”
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”For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all…
He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.”
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”Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”
— Isaiah 9:2, 6-7; Psalm 96:7-9; Titus 2:11, 14; Luke 2:4-7 (NRSV)
Pray: Book of Common Prayer, Collect for Christmas Day
O God, you make us glad by the yearly festival of the birth of your only Son Jesus Christ: Grant that we, who joyfully receive him as our Redeemer, may with sure confidence behold him when he comes to be our Judge; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
If you’d like a liturgy for prayer and singing on Christmas morning, I highly recommend A Christmas Morning Liturgy from The Common Rule. Select the option that best represents the age group in your gathering.
Do: Practice gift giving and receiving
{An excerpt from my post Family liturgies for Christmas & my Mama's rule for feasting.}
It seems that, in my lifetime, people have changed their opinions about Christmas gift giving. Maybe Charlie Brown started it, bemoaning commercialism? We join his melancholy lament in our house; we also guard against extreme measures that might on the surface seem wise, even spiritual. Christ taught us to give our possessions to the poor, yes, but He was no pious ascetic, shunning feasts and merrymaking.
Jesus, Himself, showed us how to receive gifts well. Picture him, feet covered with Mary's perfume, delighting in the scent of her costly gift. She shamelessly -- and extravagantly -- gave; Jesus shamelessly received. Judas' super-spiritual nagging that Mary wasted an opportunity to give to the poor couldn't even ruin the moment. Maybe Jesus had learned the joy of receiving, all those years earlier, when men from another country filled his mother's living room with abundance.
As in every other practice for living, Jesus shows us the way to delight in both the giving and the receiving of gifts. We bask in gift-giving at Christmas, not only to remember what Christ modelled the first time He came to earth, but also to remind each other what we anticipate when He comes again. Haven't we been told our future reconciliation with Jesus unveils the greatest Gift Exchange in History? He makes a new Heaven and a New Earth, and we give Him all glory, laud, and honor (including something about crowns)? No matter how spiritual it might seem, fostering guilty consciences by limiting our enjoyment of Christmas does not make us more like Christ.
There is a time for fasting; Christmas is not that time. (read more here)
You might also enjoy: Nativity Paintings from Around the World and More Nativity Paintings from Around the World via Art & Theology
* Listen to my entire playlist on Spotify: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen: Christmas 2021
** Sunday Scripture readings are taken from Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary. Daily Scripture readings are taken from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and include both Morning and Evening Psalms (Year 2).