Daily Christmas Devotions

Thursday, December 25, 2025 “The Best Day Ever”   Today is Christmas Day. It has arrived. Does the excitement in your heart feel as grand as a glimpse into the Grand Canyon, or do you feel more like a jellyfish, drifting quietly because no one wants to get too close? Either way, Christmas has...

Christmas Eve, Wednesday, December 24, 2025 “The Day Before the Best Day Ever”   The day before the big day is finally here. What a journey this season has been. The excitement has been building for weeks, and the best day is still ahead. One of our goals this Advent season has been to focus...

Tuesday, Dec 23, 2025 “Best Late Gift”   It is just two days until Christmas. At this point, it is unlikely that you can order a decent gift and have it delivered in time. As a result, panic can surface, prompting some people to jump in their cars and rush to the stores. What did we forget...

Monday, December 22, 2025 “A Big Announcement”   The Annunciation is the theological term for that moment when an angel announced to Mary that she would be the mother of the Messiah. Long ago, the Church chose to give special attention to this event, and rightfully so. Not long after Mary’s...

Sunday, December 21, 2025 “4th Sunday”   Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent. It may not mean much to those who don’t attend church: There are no thoughts of Advent candles, fewer thoughts of churches adorned in their finest, and even fewer thoughts about the deeper meaning of Christmas. For...

Saturday, December 20, 2025 “Super Saturday”   Today is the Saturday before Christmas. Although it may not mean much to everyone, it means a great deal to the U.S. economy. The Saturday before Christmas is known as Super Saturday because retail sales often rival those of Black Friday. Stores...

Friday, December 19, 2025 The First “Merry Christmas”   Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol might be the most iconic and influential holiday story of all time. It was published on this day in 1843. The first edition included 6,000 printed copies, all of which were sold by Christmas Eve that...

Thursday, December 18, 2025 “One Week: Something Will Happen”   We are officially one week away from the peak of the holiday season. Thankfully, I do not have a huge meal to cook this year. Like many of you, I was in charge of the holiday meal for many, many years. In some ways I loved it. In...

Wednesday, December 17, 2025 “Do You Know What You Did?”   Do you know what you did? That question immediately puts me on the defensive, ready to come back and defend my words or actions. But today, this question is not meant to worry anyone. Instead, it’s meant to call our attention to...

Tuesday, December 16, 2025 “The Joy of Church at Christmas”   This third week of Advent is dedicated to the theme of Christmas Joy. It seems easy enough to find joy, after all, this isn’t Lent! This is Advent: full of good food, fun, and joy. It’s too bad that Lent, the time of preparation...

Monday, December 15, 2025 “Don't Forget!”   What did you forget today? Did you forget your purse or wallet? What about your phone? Did you leave your coffee at home or forget to bring your lunch? Forgetting things is frustrating, but it’s also very common. Plenty of industries have...

Sunday, December 14, 2025 “Braking for Joy”   We have reached the third Sunday of Advent, and our calendars are picking up speed as we race toward the end of the year. This is the perfect moment to reflect on the Advent theme of Joy. Not because Joy is missing from our lives, but because we...

Saturday, December 13, 2025 “It Should Be a Happy Saturday”   Is Saturday the best day of the week? I used to think so. No school. Then, as I grew older, no work. Eventually God called me into something different, and Saturdays became work days again. Even though I am working, it is still...

Friday, December 12, 2025 “Half Full and Half Empty”   We’ve reached the halfway point of the 2025 Holiday Season. Woohoo! Or, for some, “yikes!” Often, we’re asked to choose between an optimistic or a pessimistic outlook, but right now, many of us are feeling a mix of both. By midday today,...

Thursday, December 11, 2025 “Something New”   Today, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch 29 Starlink satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The scheduled launch time is 1:59 p.m. I think rocket launches are pretty cool! I live on Longboat Key, on the...

Wednesday, December 10, 2025 “Must-Have’s”   Charlie Brown Christmas turns 60 years old today. The animated special remains a holiday favorite for millions. In fact, it is the longest-running animated Christmas special of all time, which says something about its importance in our lives. When...

Tuesday, December 9, 2025 “Longing for a Corona Christmas”   Have you ever wondered why the media focuses so intensely on Holiday Travel? I mean, really… Does it matter that tons of people will be traveling during the Season? For those who are traveling, the constant coverage just makes us...

Monday, December 8, 2025 “It Won’t Be Perfect”   “It won’t be perfect” is one of the things I must remind myself as I prepare for Advent. These four Sundays, plus Christmas Eve, represent some of the biggest days of the year in nearly every local church. Churches will experience more...

Sunday, December 7, 2025 “Our Piece of Peace”   Today is the Second Sunday of Advent, the Sunday when many churches focus on Peace. To some, peace may sound quiet or even unexciting. But to me — and to many of us — peace is almost everything. When most people hear “peace,” they think of the...

Saturday, December 6, 2025 “Sinterklaas and Christmas: The Heart of God”   Today is the Feast of St. Nicholas, when much of the Western Church celebrates the life of St. Nicholas of Myra. Born around A.D. 270, Nicholas entered the priesthood and later became bishop of Myra on the southern...

Fridayay, Dec 5, 2025 “Holiday Fridays are the Best, Unless…”   Wow! The Holidays are really moving quickly this year. With 20 days remaining, we’ve already arrived at the first of three remaining Fridays. That’s right! Just three Fridays until Christmas! Fridays normally feel special on...

Thursday, Dec 4, 2025 “Solutions for Bad Gift-Givers”   Birthdays, holidays, and special occasions have one thing in common: the giving of gifts. For some of us, the giving of gifts is very stressful, but not because we’re selfish, cheap, or ungrateful for our loved ones. Instead, when it...

Wednesday, Dec 3, 2025 “Something Healthy”   What healthy foods and drinks do you dislike? This is an easy question to ask older adults like me, because essentially, we consume lots of things that don’t please our taste buds because it’s good for us. For instance, do you like broccoli? What...

Tuesday, Dec 2, 2025 “God’s Community”   The recent opening of the Chapel’s Christmas Garden was a great success, thanks to the dedication and commitment of lots of volunteers, vendors, and hard workers. I was so pleased to see the garden full of people hoping to kick off the Holiday Season...

Monday, Dec 1, 2025 “The Best Monday!”   This is the Best Monday this week, guaranteed. Sure, it’s the only Monday this week, but, I must admit, it’s better than most. Church was great this past weekend, a dental appointment was rescheduled to another day, clever Christmas commercials have...

Sunday, Nov 30, 2025 “Best Day Ever!”   The 2025 rush to the Best Day Ever has officially begun on this first Sunday of Advent. Sure, for most of us, the Christmas season began a few days ago on Black Friday. But actually, since Christmas is a Christian Holiday, the first Sunday of Advent is...