【双语灵修】日常生活中的圣诞CHRISTMAS IN EVERYDAY LIFE

马太福音 2:19-23；路加福音 2:39-40

希律死了以后，有主的使者在埃及向约瑟梦中显现，说： “起来！带着小孩子和他母亲往以色列地去，因为要害小孩子性命的人已经死了。” 约瑟就起来，把小孩子和他母亲带到以色列地去。 只因听见亚基老接着他父亲希律做了犹太王，就怕往那里去。又在梦中被主指示，便往加利利境内去了， 到了一座城，名叫拿撒勒，就住在那里。这是要应验先知所说“他将称为拿撒勒人”的话了。

约瑟和马利亚照主的律法办完了一切的事，就回加利利，到自己的城拿撒勒去了。

孩子渐渐长大，强健起来，充满智慧，又有神的恩在他身上。

12月29日

日常生活中的圣诞

「约瑟和马利亚照主的律法办完了一切的事，就回加利利，到自己的城拿撒勒去了。」 - 路加福音 2:39

我总希望圣诞季能延续得越久越好。我们家常把圣诞树留到一月的第一周。但装饰终须收起，房屋复归朴素平常，彷佛缺失了某种重要而美好的事物。

《圣经》中的圣诞故事也有类似的平淡收尾：约瑟和马利亚带着耶稣返回故乡。拿撒勒这座微小无闻的城镇，是耶稣成长并生活约三十年的地方。除了他与父母及弟妹在此居住，我们对那数十年光阴知之甚少。

圣诞故事提醒我们：无论生活多么平淡寻常，耶稣已来到我们中间。无人能改变这一事实。神子已降临，万物从此不同。

或许你听过《平凡的福音：洗碗的神学》（The Everyday Gospel: A Theology of Washing the Dishes）一书。作者指出：我们需要在生活琐事中寻觅神的同在。生命中的每瞬间，都是经历神工作的机会 - 祂塑造我们的心，邀请我们悔改，在基督里得着新生命。

在日常生活中，你在何处看见主的工作？

祷告

圣灵啊，我们需要在耶稣的恩典和知识上长进。请帮助我们在日常生活中看见祂的作为与同在。阿们。

Matthew 2:19-23, Luke 2:39-40

MONDAY, DECEMBER 29

CHRISTMAS IN EVERYDAY LIFE

When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. —Luke 2:39

I like to have the Christmas season continue as long as possible. In our home we often keep our Christmas tree up into the first week of January. But eventually the decorations have to be stored away. Then the house looks rather plain and ordinary again, as if something important and beautiful is missing.

The Christmas story in the Bible has a similar sort of plain ending. Joseph and Mary returned with Jesus to their hometown. Nazareth was a small, relatively unknown town where Jesus grew up and lived for about thirty years. We know very little about what happened in those decades—except that Jesus and his parents and younger siblings lived there.

The story of Christmas reminds us that no matter how plain and ordinary our lives may feel at times, Jesus has come to us. Nothing can change that fact. The Son of God has come, and nothing can be the same again.

Maybe you have heard of the book The Everyday Gospel: A Theology of Washing the Dishes. It points out that we need to look for God’s presence in the ordinary things of life. Every moment of our lives is an opportunity to experience God’s work of shaping our hearts, inviting us to repentance and to new life in Christ.

Where do you see the Lord at work in everyday life?

Holy Spirit, we need to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. Help us to see his work and presence in everyday life. Amen.