Today’s thought is by Frederick Buechner
It is impossible to conceive how different things would have turned out if that birth had not happened whenever, wherever, however it did … for millions of people who have lived since, the birth of Jesus made possible not just a new way of understanding life but a new way of living it. It is a truth that, for twenty centuries, there have been untold numbers of men and women who, in untold numbers of ways, have been so grasped by the child who was born, so caught up in the message he taught and the life he lived, that they have found themselves profoundly changed by their relationship with him. – Frederick Buechner
Assist us with your Holy Spirit, O God, that the precious jewel of your holy word may be written in our hearts to comfort and reform us, to renew us in your own image and to build us up into the perfection of Christ, the source of all holiness and author of all virtues; and this for his own name’s sake. Amen.
From the preface to the Geneva Bible (1560)
God who heals the broken hearted, binding up their wounds and raising up those who are bowed down, give us the strength and grace to care for widows, refugees and the destitute. Compassionate and gracious God, reconcile communities and put an end to hatred between political parties and hatred that leads to war and misfortune for suffering people. Amen.