by Pastor Douglas Brauner
The Importance of Repeating Our Christmas Celebration
You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.
“But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.”
Luke 2:19 English Standard Version
Tomorrow will mark my sixty-seventh Christmas. I don’t remember most of them, I couldn’t tell you what happened on what Christmas. I do have memories of things that happened and of gifts that I received. I remember getting sick on Christmas Eve. I remember waiting outside my grand parents house, staring at the stars, and thinking I saw Santa flying through the sky. I remember being tired from leading worship services and struggling to be present with my family on Christmas Eve.
Whatever memories we carry with us this Christmas, like a circle, the repeated cycle of celebrating Jesus’ birth is important.
We are reminded every year that God loves us. His gift of love comes wrapped in a baby whose parents found only a manger for his bed.
We are reminded every year that holding on to Jesus is what will sustain us. As Mary clung to her baby, we cling to Jesus as our redeemer who understands the struggles of life.
We are reminded every year that the story is not over. This Jesus who conquered sin, death, and the devil is our daily refuge and strength. He is coming again to this world and bringing home his bride.
May our Christmas celebration this year once again be rooted in the gift of the child born to set us free as we prepare for what God has in store for us in 2023.
Merry Christmas to all of you faithful readers of the Praying With The Eyes devotions. Your continued support of these devotions means a great deal to those of us who write them.
Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Though my husband and I live in Michigan, we are all united by Christ’s love for us. I look forward to starting our day with these devotions. Thank you. I’m a visual person and the photos always give me something to contemplate on. Vicki Heinecke, a previous writer, is my dear friend and she led me to these devotions.
Merry Christmas and God bless all the writers for the time you devote to sharing these with all of us.
I’m like you, Diane, I am also a visual person. It’s funny that when I go for a walk with my camera, take pictures, then come home and look at them I see something in those pictures that I didn’t see when I took the shot. Thank you for your comments about the Praying With The Eyes ministry. I’m hoping that I can get Vicki to write some more. Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones. Pastor Doug