He has been merciful to our ancestors by remembering his sacred covenant— the covenant he swore with an oath to our ancestor Abraham.

Luke 1:72-73

Dear God, I’m guessing that in the midst of suffering under Rome the Israelites talked about your covenant with Abraham a lot. This is the second time I’ve seen it show up in the Christmas story with the first time being the Magnificat when Mary greeted Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth in their home.

I suppose that there are times when I am suffering that I look to your promises. But what exactly are your promises? Much like even the people in this story who were thinking you were there to physically rescue them from Rome, I think I sometimes mistakenly expect you to remove a burden or a yoke. But sometimes your plan includes the burden—either for my good or for someone else’s. So in this case your plan wasn’t to overthrow Rome with Jesus, but to create a new covenant that called people into deeper love, forgiveness and peace than they had ever known or considered. In fact, now that o think about it, I can’t really think of an Old Testament prophet or character who spoke of love and forgiveness the way Jesus did. This was a brand new message.

Father, help me to sink into your peace. Help me to have energy that is fueled by your Holy Spirit, by love, and by grace. And help me to spread and encourage that peace in others.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen