the Web Editors

O Word, now wrapped in human skin, speak peace on earth through your children. Come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation. Teach us how to tend to you in your self-imposed vulnerability with us. Prepare us in these tender moments to see what incarnation means in our world. Amen. - Adapted from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord." - Luke 2:9-11 + Sign up to receive our social justice verse of the day via e-mail

“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.”  - Laura Ingalls Wilder Laura Ingalls Wilder + Sign up to receive our quote of the day via e-mail

If Christ is to come more fully into our lives this Christmas, if God is to become really incarnate for us, then fire will have to be present in our prayer. Our worship and devotion will have to stoke the kind of fire in our souls that can truly change our hearts. Ours is a great responsibility not to waste this Advent time.” - Edward Hays Edward Hays, A Pilgrim’s Almanac + Sign up to receive our quote of the day via e-mail

"The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before ... What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you. And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, like Moses in the cleft of the rock, watching God’s [back] fade in the distance. So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon."   - Jan L. Richardson Jan L. Richardson, Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas + Sign up to receive our quote of the day via e-mail

Heavenly God, send your Holy Spirit to help us continue to turn your minds and heart to your Son, led by your divine love that we strive to share with those around us. We pray for our love to manifest through acts of service, justice, and compassion. May we imitate the self-giving ministry of our Savior who revealed to us the way of love through word and deed. Amen.

God of abundant life, your son Jesus Christ opened for us the door to your heavenly glory. Grant us the faith and courage to be like Mary and to allow your grace to work through us. May the story of the Annunciation assure us of the power of the Holy Spirit, as nothing is impossible with God. Amen.

For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. - Isaiah 9:6 + Sign up to receive our social justice verse of the day via e-mail

"A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes, … and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.”  - Dietrich Bonhoeffer Dietrich Bonhoeffer + Sign up to receive our quote of the day via e-mail