As we search for substantive ways to help in the wake of the immense earthquake that devastated Haiti, the Presbyterian Church (USA) has created a page on the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance response in Haiti with links to updated reports and directions for donating through through PDA. The site has updated a number of times as this post was prepared, so check there regularly for newer information on PDA’s ongoing response to the crisis.

The home page for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has a prayer for Haiti and includes an iniitial report on PDA’s response. An excerpt:

PDA is rushing an initial $100,000 from One Great Hour of Sharing and designated funds to help provide immediate emergency relief to the affected people. Funds are being sent through our ecumenical and local partners working in Haiti.

You can read more in-depth information from PDA here: their Situation Report – Haiti.

Learn about other relief efforts and more ways to help and donate (while making sure your donations go to a legitimate aid group) at this page of links and resources.

Matthew 2:1-12

Biblical scholars tell us that this story fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy of the Messiah coming not only for the Jews but also for all the Nations. The story of these Wisemen (probably astronomers) leaving their homes in three distant places and following the star to the Christ child gives us an example of persistence and devotion much like the Disciples show when Jesus says to them “Follow me.” When the star stops over the place where the Christ Child is, the Wisemen “open their treasure chests” and give their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh… the very finest gifts they had to bring.

One Epiphany tradition is a home blessing and dedication. The letters
C, M, B are written in chalk on the lintel of the front door. These letters stand for Christus Mansionem Benedicat (Christ, bless this home) and are reminders of the commitment to follow Christ’s leading throughout the year.

PRAYER: God help us to rededicate our lives to you and to follow the light of Jesus with determination like the Wisemen who followed His star. Amen.

Martha Osborne

John 1:14-18
As we come to the end of the church’s Christmas season and prepare for Epiphany tomorrow, this verse reminds us again of the gift God has given us in Jesus. John tells us that Jesus is the Word of God made into flesh, made into a real person who lived with us and lived like us. In His life, Jesus showed us the grace of God and truth of God’s love for us.

When I hear “the Word became flesh” I imagine God “speaking” Jesus into being. What a powerful Word! As that Living Word, Jesus brought us the physical presence of God’s grace, brought the love and light of God right to the ground we walk on and the air we breathe. Jesus is God’s glorious living gift of complete forgiveness, unending love, and eternal life.

PRAYER: Gracious giving God, we thank you for the blessing of Jesus. As your Word, he lived among us and showed us your love and grace. Thank you, loving God! Amen.

Tim Merritt

I’ve often had the image of Jesus as the Light of the World explained to me in terms of a flashlight or candle in the dark, lighting just enough to see where you’re going. But William Barclay, in his Daily Study Bible of the Gospel of John, describes the Light as a blaze of light, like standing in the dark near daybreak, and then dawn happens. And all the shadows and scary parts of the night vanish with the Light.

Barclay mentions three shadows that are dissipated with the coming of the Light.

Shadow of Doubt – It’s hard to know what God is like just by living in this World. You might have a clue now and then, but mostly you just don’t know. But the Light shows us what God is like. God is like Jesus.

Shadow of Despair – We often feel stuck and mired in our selfish, sinful ways. The world and the self that we imagine seem unattainable. But Jesus gives us a new power, a new dynamic. His presence makes all impossible things possible.

Shadow of Death – Most of us have walked through the valley of the shadow of death, either by ourselves or with someone we love. But Jesus showed us that “death was only the way to a larger life.” And we no longer have to feel afraid.

PRAYER: Light of All, help us to open our eyes and see what your Light reveals to us about ourselves and our world. Help us to see your Light in every person, trusting that Your heart is big enough to hold us all. Amen.

Lynne Connolly

Enlightenment
Illumination
Understanding
Hope
Peace

In Hyderabad, India, the power goes out at least twice a day, as it does in most developing countries. Living in America, we may take power and electricity for granted, not realizing how important these are to leading productive lives. When the lights go out in Hyderabad, the darkness overwhelms you at first and it takes a few minutes to get used to the dark. Then begins the waiting, sitting patiently, not engaging as you had previously because the darkness has stifled the energy in the room.

This passage reminds me of what life would be like without the Word, without God’s presence in our lives. God’s light shines in the dark world and gives us an inner sense of peace and security enabling us to give of ourselves, to be the light to others. Without light , we would still be waiting to act, unsure of our paths.

PRAYER: Lord, we praise you for illuminating this dark world with life, light and the promise of peace in all the world. May your light continue to shine brightly in our hearts as we journey through this new year. Amen.

Genia Topple Cayce

Matthew 11:2-6

Christmas warmth is wrapping up. Decorations are stored; brittle trees line the curbs. Presents have been assigned a place or returned. As another year begins and the joyous celebrations have started to become memory, we face a new year.

In prison, John the Baptist wondered about Jesus, “Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?” A modern version of this question might be, “Was that it? Or can we expect something else?’

In answer to John’s question, Jesus sent word to him about wonderful miracles of goodness–the blind see, the deaf hear, the poor hope. As Christians who rejoice in the coming of Jesus, we need to expect something else throughout the new year by becoming Christ’s new purveyors of his miracles of goodness. When we give the gifts of ourselves, we keep the joy of Christmas alive in our own hearts and in those of others.

PRAYER: Gracious God, help us to keep the spirit of Christmas alive throughout the year by continually giving of ourselves to others. Amen.

Glenda Clay

Happy New Year!

What? This isn’t that what you want say when you read this text?

What a troubling text for this first day of a new year. It seems to bully us into discipleship, and speaks of excluding some from the promise of the gospel while imposing the terms of God’s empire on the world. It is easy to reject it when it seems at odds with the rest of the good news of Jesus Christ, a message that stands against imperial strategies and exclusion. But it is one of the paradoxes of our Christian faith with which we struggle, year in and year out.

But there is an important message that should get our attention in this text. Jesus is the messenger who enfleshed God’s mercy and God’s justice for us. His message of love and justice for all – the poor, the hungry, those who are easy to pass by or pass off – and of our role in continuing to flesh this message out, comes through loud and clear. This IS the good news of God’s covenant faithfulness. If we put meat on the bones of this proclamation of God’s love, we can make a difference this new year for those we meet along the way.

For today’s prayer, please read or sing one or more verses of #407 in the PRESBYTERIAN HYMNAL, “Cuando el Pobre (When a Poor One).” The fourth verse is printed here for our prayer: “When our homes are filled with goodness in abundance, when we learn how to make peace instead of war, when each stranger that we meet is called a neighbor, then we know that God still goes that road with us, then we know that God still goes that road with us.”
Amen.

Sarah Erickson

Revelation 21: 1 – 6a

Advent has been a time of waiting, waiting for Christmas and waiting for the time when Christ will come again. This passage in Revelation speaks about something else that Christians are waiting for – the coming of the “New Heaven and New Earth.” God will dwell with God’s people in a New Jerusalem. Does this sound familiar? Jesus was also Emanuel, God is with us. When God dwells with God’s people in the holy city, there will be no mourning, crying or pain. This is what Jesus said he came for too.

As you think about the New Year, what is God making new in you? Share your ideas around the table or with a friend of ways that you can help to bring in a world where there is no more mourning, crying or pain.

God is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and everything in between.

PRAYER: Dear God, the Alpha and Omega, As we/I think about ways to share your love and healing in our world, write them on my heart, and make them trustworthy and true. Amen.

Virginia Pribbenow

Jeremiah 31: 31-34

First, Jeremiah’s main tenet was that the all powerful God might punish his chosen people for sinning but would never let them be destroyed by their enemies, mainly the Assyrians. So, in spite of the sinfulness of King Ahaz, God renewed God’s covenant with the people of Israel. What a comfort it must have been to the Israelites at a disastrous time in their history to be told by Jeremiah that God was renewing his covenant with them. This covenant is the same promise we are given through the resurrection of Jesus the Christ. We are promised that through God’s grace, we will never be alone and in the end, death will not prevail. The birthday of Jesus reminds us of this promise.

In this scripture God is the sole actor. Inherent in a covenant, however, is a requirement from both parties. What then is the Israelites’ responsibility to this covenant? God will put his law in their hearts. They are expected to obey that law. Jesus came to fulfill the law. He promises us a covenant of grace through which we are certain that death never prevails. With this beautiful promise in our hearts this Christmas, may we fulfill our part of the new covenant by following Jesus’ way: feeding the hungry, being peacemakers, caring for the widows and orphans or the voiceless and powerless in our midst.

PRAYER: Gracious God, we, like the Israelites, find ourselves amidst calamity: war, an economic crisis and a crisis of values. Yet you promise us your faithful presence and your salvation. Help us to celebrate the birth of the Christ Child and the promise it represents with hope and celebration of your goodness. Amen.

Anne Sayre

Colossians 3: 12-17

In this passage Paul says to show others compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Paul continues by saying to forgive one another, and to “clothe yourselves with love,” and “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” In this Christmas season we are particularly aware of the need to show compassion and kindness to others, and we work to fulfill this charge through outreach programs such as the Angel Tree and the Druid Hills gift bags, as well as personal acts of kindness and love. However, as I read this passage I reflected on how well I meet this charge in my personal relationships and on a day-to-day basis throughout the year. Paul’s charge is one not just for the Christmas season, but an ongoing directive on how to live our lives “in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

PRAYER: Dear Lord, help me to live with love and the peace of Christ not only today but every day, and to show others compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience throughout the coming year. Amen.

Angela Cass