Author: Daniel Westfall

Ep.448: Between Christmas and New Years.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Christmas is past. Used wrapping paper recycled, used ribbon trashed, presents stashed away. Turkey has been digested, its bones boiled for broth. And the fruitcake is waiting your opinion: Is it your favorite snack? Or an abomination to be thrown away?

After Christmas, it’s jigsaw puzzle time, with nuts for cracking and eggnog for sipping and leftover turkey for dinner.

At church there’s a feeling of letdown. We built up to Christmas with four Sundays of Advent, followed by midnight mass on Christmas Eve.

Now begins the long haul to spring. T.S. Eliot called April the cruellest month, but for me, January and February are worse. Daylight and warmth don’t bless Canadian winters. As I shovel snow and spread sand, winter’s cold invades my soul and darkness clouds my mind. 

And to top it off, this Sunday we remember the Holy Innocents, the children King Herod killed when he unsuccessfully tried to assassinate Jesus. Winter and King Herod leave me cold!

So, how to survive winter, especially January and February? 

I like Plan A. An invitation to stay warm, curled up with a blanket, watching TV,  reading fantasy novels, hibernating until Spring. But Plan B is better for my soul. I can face dark days by getting out to meet friends over coffee, going to church on wind-chilly Sundays, and offering daily prayers to God. 

Another helpful practice is patience. Patience with myself when I’m not cheerful or productive. Patience with others who experience depression and pain all winter. Patience with creation as it hunkers down and slouches toward spring.   

Plan B includes winter walks, often short and chilly. But the views are better than YouTube: I see live winter sunsets of rose and orange and blues and purples. I see white snow on green evergreens. And I sympathize with deciduous trees shivering naked in the north wind. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, don’t leave us standing naked in these winter winds. Dress us in the warmth of your love. Clothe us with Christ’s righteousness. Speak warm words to our hearts. Shine Christ’s light on our darkness.  

Herod’s attack didn’t kill the child Jesus. His parents found refuge in Egypt. As winter dark and cold attack our souls, give us refuge in you. Teach us to drink the wine you offer, to eat the bread of life, to nourish our souls with friends and music and patient waiting for spring. 

Amen

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.447: Advent 4: Jesus is Coming.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Jesus’ Second Coming, where some people disappear in the Rapture and others remain for the Great Tribulation, was a popular evangelical topic when I was a kid.

My 2025 Anglican church says little about Christ’s Second Coming. But in preparation for Christmas, four Advent Sundays focus on Jesus’ first coming. The prayer for one of the Sundays invites us to think about both events.

It says, 

   O Lord Jesus, who sent your messenger to prepare the way for your first coming,
      Grant that your ministers may prepare the way for your second coming [sic],
      by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. 

John the Baptist was the messenger of the first coming. He advised poor people to be generous, tax collectors to be honest, and soldiers to be content with their pay. 

According to the Anglican prayer, the Second Coming has many messengers–ministers or preachers who turn hearts of disobedience to the wisdom of the just.  

I understand hearts of disobedience, because I sure have one. But what’s the wisdom of the just?

Let’s look at the word wisdom. A great Danish grook says,
  Wisdom is the booby prize,
      given when we’ve been unwise. 

How many times have I earned that prize? Way too many! Sometimes it’s by surfing the fridge for sweets to soothe my restlessness. Sometimes I retreat inside myself instead of welcoming friends and family. Sometimes it’s expecting others to change, when it’s me who needs a new direction.  

Such are my foolish approaches to life. So what’s a wise approach? I could start by pointing to wisdom as a way to navigate life that respects God, others, and self.

When I put God’s name in that sentence, I describe not just wisdom, but wisdom of the just. Justice is about what’s right and wrong, and God judges that. 

The prophet Isaiah mentions a highway called holiness, where the pure in heart will walk (Isa 35:8). That’s the wisdom of the just. To abandon the low way of self-interest, and walk in the high way of holiness.

Let’s pray. 

Our father, as we come to the last Sunday before Christmas, we ask for the wisdom of the just. Turn our hearts from disobedience. Direct our gaze to you, not self. Prepare us for Christ’s Second Coming, when you will judge our wrongs and rights.  

Help us have wise and just relationships–eing kind to our partners, generous to the needy, patient with all. 

Help us avoid the foolishness of may words and little listening, of caring for the body but not the soul, of giving way to undisciplined thoughts and wayward actions. 

Give us the wisdom of the just, a wisdom to behave better, a wisdom to purify our hearts, a wisdom to look to you, not ourselves. 

As we celebrate Jesus bringing his light to earth, may we walk the highway that will leads us to shine like stars with him in heaven (Dan 12:3).   

Amen

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.446: Advent 3: Shepherds and Angels Today?

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Do you tire of Christmas? Every year the same story, the same songs, the same curse of commercialism. Why do we come back to Christmas every year? Are we stuck in a time warp? 

An Anglican prayer for the third Sunday in Advent realigns our perspective on Christmas. It says,  
  God of power and mercy,
  you call us once again to celebrate the coming of your Son.
  Remove those things which hinder our love of you,
  that when he comes again, he may find us waiting in awe and wonder.

I think we come back to Christmas not because the story has changed, but because we have changed. We are older. We’ve lived through another year of difficult relationships, debts that arrived uninvited, jobs where we tread water. Some of us have experienced new joy in life’s twists and turns. 

At Christmas we can bring this year, we can bring our current situation, to the Christmas story. We can hear the angels sing into our lives. We can journey to the manger and look again at the child who restores our joy and points us to the hope of salvation. 

As the Anglican prayer says, Remove those things which hinder our love of you. That’s the gift the angels and shepherds and wise men give. An opportunity to look with new eyes at the baby in the manger, who will renew our love and strengthen our resolve.

Let’s pray. 

O Father, the third advent candle is hope. 

May we who live Christmas on automatic pilot, hear fresh words of hope.
May we who are earthbound listen to the angels’ song.
May we who are melancholy sing carols of joy.
May we who are lonely find companionship at the manger. 
May we who fear death hear the promise of life.
May we who are rich and thankful share the goodness with others.

This Christmas, help us to take our life and prayers to the manger. Help us worship the child the shepherds found. Help us see the star of promise. Help us travel with the wise men to Bethlehem. 

Amen.

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.445: Advent 2: Words and The Word.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Do you speak powerful words? God does. 

At creation he spoke the world into being. On a March day in the year zero BC, God’s word to Mary conceived a child in her womb. His word that Christmas brought Jesus to birth. 

On the second Sunday of Advent, as we prepare for Christmas, an Anglican prayer reminds us of God’s word. It says, 

  Blessed Lord,
    who caused holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
    Grant that we may hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
    that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word,
    we may embrace the hope of everlasting life . . .

Scripture. Words to hear, read, mark, learn, and, surprisingly, to inwardly digest. 

Do you inwardly digest scripture? What does that even mean? 

On Christmas day I open presents with family. Then I make waffles for brunch, using egg whites beaten stiff to lighten the batter. We pile on strawberries, butter, whipped cream, and maple syrup. And then, with my sugar levels off the map, I nap while my body inwardly digests the riches.  

Can one digest scripture in the same way?   

Like Christmas brunch, I receive scripture with my senses–hearing, reading, and getting the flavor of the narrative and poetry. Sometimes, a morsel of scripture lodges deep inside, sustaining and giving me life. There it is! That’s digesting scripture, listening and waiting for God to speak. It’s treasuring and holding his word so that it becomes part of me, clarifying my thinking and improving my behavior.

Let’s pray. 

Our father, how did we lose the wonder of scripture?
  It is a feast of plenty, but we don’t know how to eat.
  It is a river of living water, but we’ve forgotten how to drink.
  It is a healing fountain, but we fear to take the plunge. 

Books and sermons analyze and interpret your word, but seldom do we hear you speak to us through scripture, and seldom does it change us. O father, this Christmas, help us digest your word.
  Give us ears to hear the stories.
  Give us eyes to see the savior.
  Give us your spirit to turn us from sin.
  Give us your grace to lead us to freedom. 

May your word in the holy scriptures and may your living word, Jesus, dwell richly in us, more richly than Christmas dinner and dessert.  

Amen

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.444: Advent 1: Cast Away the Works of Darkness.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Where I live, the Christmas season is dark and cold. The lazy sun climbs reluctantly out of bed at 9:00 and returns to its nightly slumber at 4:30, leaving us to endure long, dark, frozen nights. 

Sometimes the sun hides all day behind grey, snow clouds leaving northerners to freeze, while it tans sunbathers in Hawaii and warms surfers in Australia, places I can’t afford. 

The Anglican Book of Common Prayer comments on darkness. One of the prayers says (Collect of the first Sunday of Advent):

Almighty God,
  give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
  and put on the armour of light,
  now in the time of this mortal life
  in which your Son Jesus Christ
  came to us in great humility. . . 

Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness. Like the dark depressions that fog our souls, despair that chokes, persistent temptations to give up. These are the works of darkness that assail me in the dark of  winter. Other works of darkness follow close behind: anger, lust, and greed, lurking in hearts, darkening relationships. 

The prayer advises us to cast off these works of darkness, to put on the armor of light. 

I like that. 

To arm myself with light. As I walk my dog around the neighborhood, Halloween ghosts and graveyards and skeletons are back where they belong, hidden for another year in basements, attics, and garages. Christmas decorations appear. Snowy lawns host Christmas inflatables and herds of wire-frame reindeer, lighted in sparkling white. Windows display bright living room Christmas trees and wrapped presents.

I like lights that shine in darkness. Lights strung on roofs and eavestroughs, lights looping around trees. Rotating lights patterning fences and homes. Light-infused inflatables of Santa and Rudolph and the Grinch. 

All cheerful and Christmassy. Lights that arm themselves and me against the darkness.  

Let’s pray. 

Our father,
  give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
  and put on the armor of light.

Advent Sundays measure four weeks to Christmas. Advent, a time in the darkness of our mortal life to wait and hope for the savior you promised. 

A time to remember the angel choir that filled the sky with light and sang of Jesus’ birth. 

A time to remember him, who came in the darkness of winter and said, “I am the light.” 

Help us to receive your light at Christmas. Help us put on the armor of light. Help us be lights in the dark winter as we wait for spring. Help us to be lights in the world as we wait for your coming again.

Amen

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube