Devotional #1 (Luke 1-2)
Step 1 | Watch
Watch the Bible Project video on Luke 1-2
"Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel!" - The Sing Team
“O Holy Night” - Ghost Ship
Let’s class this up a bit…
“For unto us a child is born” - Handel
Step 4 | READ
Question 22 from the New City Catechism. Read the Q&A, verse, and commentary.
Step 5 | reflect
Count the songs/psalms in Luke 1-2. What is it that these folks are celebrating?
What in these chapters is unexpected?
List a few things that God has done for you that were unexpected.
Step 6 | pray
Cleanse me, Emmanuel Dear Emmanuel, in whom alone, and by whom alone, all my hopes and confidences are founded: I fall down at your feet. As the prophet cried out, so I desire unceasingly to exclaim, “I am a man of unclean lips!” But if you cause the iniquity to be taken away, and my sin to be purged from me, I will be clean. For you are our New Testament altar. You are the Lord my righteousness. Precious Jesus, you are the Alpha and Omega. Even as the Father made you the glorious covenant head of your people in the beginning of his way, so be my all in all. My first and last. The Author and Finisher of my faith. Precious Lord! May I, like Paul, be able to say, “Not as though I had already attained”—because I long to catch up to and hold fast to you, Christ Jesus, even as you have caught up to and held fast to me. So come, Lord Jesus, to your bride, the church. Be the fountain of life to all your redeemed, until you bring your church below to join your church above, so they will dwell together in the light of your countenance, forever, amen.
—Robert Hawker
***
Bonus Reading: Q&A about the incarnation.
Bonus Reading: The First Days of Jesus (Amazon Kindle)
Bonus Video: Bible Project: Peace/Shalom