Listen

I will recount the Lord’s faithful acts; I will sing the Lord’s praises, because of all the Lord did for us, for God’s great favor toward the house of Israel. God treated them compassionately and with deep affection. God said, “Truly, they are my people, children who won’t do what is wrong.” God became their savior. During all their distress, God also was distressed, so a messenger who served him saved them. In love and mercy God redeemed them, lifting and carrying them throughout earlier times.

Isaiah 63:7-9

Think

This time of the year provides us with an opportunity to be thankful for God’s saving and loving actions in our lives… healing, renewal, celebration, new life, new beginnings.

In the birth of Jesus, we are reminded that God is faithful to God’s promise… to make whole, to make new, to renew the earth. Each of us are God’s beloved – just like Jesus, who became our savior.

How might you celebrate and give thanks for God’s faithful actions in your life? In what ways has God redeemed you, lifted and carried you? How have you been treated compassionately and by whom? Remember and sing God’s praises.

Douglas Sparks

Pray

God of faithful actions, help me to recount the ways you have saved and redeemed me.

May I sing your praise in my compassion toward others who strive to follow the Star manifest in Jesus!

Amen.

Go

Christ the Son be manifest in you, that your life may be a light to the world!

from A New Zealand Prayer Book (The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia)