As the world bustles around you, may your heart rejoice with the extravagant hope of Christmas. May the coming of God's light fill you with eager anticipation and bring you moments of joy that deepen your faith and enrich your spirit.
With thanks for all the ways you support our ministry throughout the year, we pray God's love abide with you and give you peace~
"The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."
—Frederick Buechner
(Wishful Thinking: A Seeker's ABC, Harper San Francisco, 1993)
explorefaith is humbled by your enthusiastic responses to our recent appeals for financial support! Your gifts both large and small help make sure we continue providing the spiritual resources millions across the world hunger for and need, and we are truly grateful for your generosity.
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When Blessing Comes
Properly understood, Christmas is not just a day or even a season of the year—an event on the calendar that arrives and passes. No, Christmas is much more than that. It is a permanent change that enters into our world, "for keeps," affecting every one of our attitudes, actions, and relationships for the rest of our lives.
Christmas is, you see, not an END of anything. It is the beginning of a whole new way of understanding the world, each other, and ourselves.Christmas is the arrival date for a gift that must be opened up and put to use if it is to make any difference at all.
Christmas Prayer for Peace Gracious God,
In the scurry and stress of Christmas, help me take moments of solitude where my heart can be alone with you. In the stillness of that solitude, I pray that your Spirit will surround and enfold me until my soul sits softly in the peace of your love. Amen.
The Goodness of God
Jesus embodied a divine affirmation: an affirmation that God embraces us all. The core message of Christmas, of Christ's birth, what we call the Incarnation, is that God is all about being for us.