Weekly Practice 12/22/25
After doing this week’s practice, try to share your experience with a friend.
Scripture
Luke 2:36-38 NLT
Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.
Practice
Christmas week is upon us. For all the warmth and delight it brings, it may also be filled with travel, preparations, obligations, last minute shopping, awkward family interactions, sleeping on uncomfortable guest beds, or boxing up the decorations (unless you’re one of those weirdos who leaves your tree up until February). It’s going to be busy for a lot of us, with probably too much already crammed in.
This week, instead of a new practice, consider going back to one you may have missed or want to revisit. A poem a day can be a lot to keep up with. Maybe you haven’t tried visio divina yet.
And there’s no hurry. In liturgical church calendars, the Christmas season begins on Christmas day and runs into the new year. Though “the big dance” will come and go by this Friday, we don’t have to rush on. It may be good for us to linger a while longer, like Anna in the Temple. She stuck around, and she saw the Messiah. It might even be a little easier to hear or see what God has for us as the season winds and quiets down.
One last Christmas banger
Tony Anderson is one of my faves, and this piece is 14+ minutes of atmospheric bliss.
