Bishop Ward encourages us to be in a vigil of prayer today and tomorrow for the incoming leaders and for the future of our nation.

Just as the Magi came and offered gifts to the Christ child, we offer gifts in this season to one another and to our friends and partners around the world.

In Christmas, God comes to us in the tiny baby. The love and beauty and strength and possibility of God is contained in flesh, and so we sing “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.”

As we draw near to Christ, the Light of the world, we are called to be bearers of His light for the transformation of the world.

Let us remember that in Christmas, God comes to do something for us and that something overshadows anything that we can ever do for God.

Drawing from the prophet Isaiah, Bishop Ward invites us to throw our arms wide and to proclaim the call to social holiness, to be engaged in our world.

As we move through the first week of Advent, Bishop Ward presents this question to us – “What does it mean for each of us to be a voice for God?”

Bishop Ward invites us to join in evening prayer throughout the season of Advent and the District Christmas offering for UMCOR.