But then most Christians do that every week, when they attend church for an hour or two, and then go on living their lives as though nothing has changed. I wonder how anyone can hear the message of Christ, the message of grace and hope for all people, regardless of who they are or where they came from, the commands to love one’s neighbor and to be peacemakers, how can anyone hear that message, and not be changed by it? How can anyone hear that message and not want to immediately run out and share God’s love and grace with everyone they encounter?
We can’t simply hear the story of Christ’s birth and then go back to our everyday lives. We have to listen to what God is calling us to do through that story. I find that the words of Howard Thurman, civil rights leader and theologian, express this better than I ever could:
When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with their flocks,
the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among the people,
to make music in the heart.
-Howard Thurman
Sunday – Isaiah 11:1-9
Monday – Jeremiah 33:14-18
Tuesday – Hosea 14:4-9
Wednesday – Psalm 84
Thursday – Luke 2:1-20
Friday – Romans 5:1-5
Saturday – 2 Corinthians 4:1-6