Austin Stone Institute

Join us for another journey through our team’s family Christmas traditions! Today we’re learning how Courtney, Kalen, and Sydney celebrate Jesus' birth.

Every year, Courtney and her extended family go to her grandparents’ ranch house for a week. They call it “Texas Christmas.” (Courtney’s originally from Oklahoma!) They go hunting, ride four-wheelers, and play reindeer games!

On Christmas Eve, Kalen and her family snuggle up together and read The Night Before Christmas. In the morning, they bake a birthday cake for Jesus and sing Him a special birthday song!

Growing up, Sydney’s whole family played golf. So, on Christmas Eve or Day, they would go golfing together! Now, Sydney and her family make homemade cinnamon rolls TWO DAYS in advance (these are some serious cinnamon rolls) and go around the neighborhood to give out any leftovers.

We’re sharing another liturgy from our podcast, More To It: Reframing Emotions, in hopes that you are encouraged to embrace God’s design for your emotions. Today’s writing is about joy!
Here’s to another !

A Liturgy for Seeking Joy
By Sarah Feller

Father, I confess:
I often struggle to wrap my mind around what joy is.
Is it laughter or dinner with loved ones, delight or contentment?
What does it really mean to be joyful?

When I’m distanced by apathy, joy feels elusive: trying to strike a match in the wind.
When I’m crushed by the weight of grief, joy feels impossible: a bloom sprouting in the dead of winter.
But You, God, call me to joy anyway: Your breath, coaxing fire from embers.

Father, I ask:
When I forget Your joy, will You remind me?
Fill me with the fullness of Your joy–
For it is strength in grief, steadfastness through trial, zeal in place of apathy, an outpouring of Spirit,
A firm foundation: living in expectation
Of resurrection.