Second Week of Advent
Christ Came to Set Us Free
For the Christian, selfishness doesn’t work. It doesn’t fill the emptiness within. For the Christian, hatred doesn’t work. Hate turns on us and comes back to haunt us. When you are a Christian, concern and love for others is your responsibility. Christ came into the world to show us how concerned God is, how much God cares, how deeply God loves; and he sends us out into he world so that we may love and care for people in the same self-giving way. Christ came to break the locks on the prisons of selfishness, hate, and unconcern. He came to set us free, but we have to decide to walk out the door.
Focus for the Second Week of Advent
We find Bethlehem when we discover and claim the freedom given to us through Jesus Christ. This week, consider how you can “step out the door” in service to God and others. Think about ways this step might enrich your life and help you grow in faith.
Advent Prayer
God of life and hope, we thank you for the gift of freedom in Jesus Christ. Help us to claim it every day
so that others may find Bethlehem and realize they are also free from the prisons of their lives.
In Christ we pray. Amen
Excerpt from “Finding Bethlehem in the Midst of Bedlam ”
by James W. Moore