Jesus once said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Some scholars believe that when he said it, this was a new thought in the world. Regardless, today it’s such a powerful image that it is taken as a universal truth. And as I sit here in my office, I am thinking that it is a truth that we are so much in need of revisiting this Christmas.

Maybe it’s me, but this year I have heard a greater share of stories of hardship, anger, frustration and cynicism. And this image of the heart comes back to me time and again. I don’t know about how it feeds you, but this year it has sustained me through my own family challenges of sickness and loss.

I look around me, in our churches in Carleton and Buckingham, and I see a beating heart. Not something abstract and quaint. But something close and real;
A beauty that is honest enough to accept life as it is, to accept that we are all at different places on the same journey. You can’t really put that into words. You just need to savor it.

Corny as it sounds, the heart of the church is the gift that truly keeps giving.

And so with that in mind, please join me in prayer.

God of grace,
Grant us rest for a moment.

Rest from our worries and our stress. Rest from dangers in the world and challenges in our lives that we need perspective on.

May our hearts not be hard. May we resist lashing out in frustration and anger. There is too much of this right now. We enter Christmas with a sinking feeling that our public conversation is not kind.

Soften our hearts, O God, to accept you into our hearts so that our homes are warm and true and welcoming to all those who are lost.
Replace our frowns with smiles and inspire us to share them.

A baby has so much to offer when we care for it. You call us to care for the Christ Child so that we understand what it means to care – care beyond our human understanding.

May courage fill us to treasure what you show us is most precious: Human life in all its cultures and forms. Lead us not to dismiss what is difficult in your call to us to be a light to a world that hardens in self absorbed interest, causing pain and suffering unjustly.

Help us to celebrate your truth, your mercy and your love. Make us to share freely in this gift.

In the name of the One you send us, Jesus the messiah.

Amen…. and again and again… Amen.

Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Yours in Christ,
Rev. Eric Lukacs