December 25, 2025 - Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! 

By Brian Groe

Thursday, December 25, 2025

The Season of Advent is done.  

The waiting is over! 

The angels have sung.  

The shepherds have come to see, and returned home rejoicing! 

The Christ Child has been born! 

Let us all rejoice!

However even though the season is over, our personal Advent continues as we expectantly wait for the Lord's return.  The day when God will make all things new again.  The day when we will see our Savior face-to-face.  

It could be today, so we should always live as though this might be the day.  

The Nouwen devotion that I received earlier this week also spoke of our watching and waiting:

Recognizing the Lord

From: Gracias: A Latin American Journal

Be alert, be alert, so that you will be able to recognize your Lord in your husband, your wife, your parents, your children, your friends, your teachers, but also in all that you read in the daily newspapers. The Lord is coming, always coming. Be alert to his coming. When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize him at any moment of your life. Life is Advent; life is recognizing the coming of the Lord… - Henri Nouwen

Let us all be ever mindful of the small ways that Christ reveals Himself in our lives today and every day!

At least for this year, the Advent Blog is done!  

I want to thank everyone that contributed their stories this year, and I want to thank all of our readers!  You are what make this blog/devotion a success.

In the past I have shown maps to demonstrate the reach of our blog.  This year I thought I would use a chart instead.  

As of December 23

This chart shows the actual number of page reads for our blog.  Obviously, the majority of the page reads have been in the United States, However, as you can see we have had several people reading our blog in Singapore and Hong Kong!  

It is always amazing to me the reach that a simple blog like this can have.  

I hope that you have all enjoyed the Advent Blog this year.  I want to finish up this time together with 2 versions of Silent Night.  

I love Mannheim Steamroller's version of Silent Night!

I also love the more traditional version performed by The Piano Guys and Placido Domingo.  

Called to Find Rest With You

Henri Nouwen
From: Following Jesus: Finding Our Way Home in an Age of Anxiety

Lord Jesus,

In the middle of busy work and many concerns I want to fix my eyes on you. You are the Lord, the Lord who calls me to your kingdom, the Lord who calls me to find rest with you, the Lord who calls me to conversion, to new life, to new hope. I am grateful, O Lord, that you call me here. Help me to be renewed so that through me many can be healed and find new life.

Amen.