This devotional was adapted from a service that Mari wrote in 2023, created to honor the thrum of sorrow and loss that undulates beneath the largely cheerful Christmas songs sung throughout November and December.
New Year: A Community in Mourning
"Happy New Year" symbolizes a fresh start, a chance to start over with the possibility of leaving the past behind. But what happens when the new year brings fresh trouble, fresh pain, or carries with it the things of last year that will not go away?
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Be’er Sheva: Abraham’s Well
Abraham’s brothers and father also became believers in the One True and Living God, the first monotheists in the history of humankind.
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Overwhelmed
She nodded, but clenched her teeth. The room seemed to grow dim, as though someone had lowered the lights and muffled the sounds. She needed to go—somewhere else, anywhere else—so she got back up and walked out the door.
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Hebrews: Anchor of the Soul
The writer had given nearly three chapters of exhortation, dire warnings in stern language. Now he turned to encouragement, feeling certain his audience would respond to God’s call through his letter.
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Loneliness
We are going to see God rescuing a very lonely person who had reached the very end of herself, literally all lone, without friend or family, without resources, and finally, without hope.
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Al Jazaar Mosque
Even as I sit here and type these words, I can hear the muezzin singing out the Adhan from the minaret of Al Jazaar mosque, the final of five calls to prayer throughout the day.
