2025

“Our Part”

An Introduction

This year’s Christmas readings are gathered around a theme titled, “Our Part”. It’s a theme which acknowledges the role that each one of us plays in our eternal destiny. The Lord our God is the Savior of all, but He can’t prepare us for heaven without our cooperation. He has given us hearts that can love, minds that can think wisely and creatively, and bodies that can do many useful things. His hope and expectation are that we will take these gifts and use them to orient ourselves toward Him and toward others around us. He wants us to consider the role we can best play in any given situation, and then pour our energy in that direction.

This theme shows itself throughout the Christmas story. There, each person or group of people has a part to play in the divine narrative: Zacharias and Elizabeth walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless; Mary and Joseph trust the Lord’s leadership, and they devoutly do what is required of them; the shepherds and wise men come with haste to see the newborn babe, they present gifts to Him, and they fall down and worship Him; Simeon waits patiently for the Lord’s coming; and Anna the prophetess speaks of Him to all who seek redemption. Each of these characters symbolizes a different part of us—and a different role that we have to play—in the birth of the Lord’s love and wisdom in our lives.

What is there for us to learn from the different characters in this story? In what way can their lives, and the example they set, help us do our part in making loving and wise choices, doing useful things, and contributing to the goodness of any situation that we are in this Christmas season?

Each daily reading in this booklet features a part of the Christmas story followed by readings from the Heavenly Doctrines for the New Church. Each reading touches on one or another part that we have to play in our walk with the Lord.

We hope you will enjoy these readings, and that they will support you in doing your part this Christmas season.

Merry Christmas

• December 1: Until Shiloh come.
• December 2: A Great Light.
• December 3: Walking in all the Commandments.
• December 4: Whereby shall I know this?
• December 5: Bring Forth a Son.
• December 6: With God no saying shall be impossible.
• December 7: Behold, the maidservant of the Lord.
• December 8: Blessed is she who has believed.
• December 9: My Soul Magnifies the Lord.
• December 10: On the Eighth Day.
• December 11: Serve Him without fear.
• December 12: Being Just.
• December 13: Fear Not.
• December 14: As the angel of the Lord had ordered.
• December 15: Her Firstborn Son.
• December 16: Keeping Watch.
• December 17: On Earth Peace.
• December 18: Good Tidings of Great Joy.
• December 19: Waiting for the Consolation of Israel.
• December 20: Serving God with Fasting.
• December 21: The Star went before them.
• December 22: Search Earnestly for the Young Child.
• December 23: Fell down and worshiped Him.
• December 24: They Presented to Him Gifts.
• December 25: The Word was Made Flesh.

Read other Christmas Readings collections.

(Special Thanks to the Glenview New Church for Collecting these Readings)