A Prayer about the God Who Came Not to Condemn

Heavenly Father,

In these early days after Christmas, 

may we not immerse ourselves in the whirl of the world 

so fully that we lose our wonder 

at the profoundly good news of the incarnation: 

From the beginning, 

even when his fingers were tiny 

and his sounds were infant coos, 

Jesus was born for one purpose: 

that we, that the whole cosmos, might be “born again” (John 3:3). 

“How shall that be,” the Jewish leader, Nicodemus, 

asks? 

Jesus explains in some of the better known words of the Word: 

“For God so loved the world, 

that he gave his only begotten Son,

that whoever believes in him 

should not perish 

but should have eternal life” (John 3:16). 

This is the true gift of Christmas, 

but it gets even better. 

For all who have suffered the voices of contempt and condemnation, 

who have hung their heads in shame, 

you give more hope, 

“For God did not send his Son 

into the world to condemn the world, 

but to save the world through him” (John 3:17). 

Oh, gracious and merciful Father, 

what good news this is! 

May we live and love out of it today and every day.

In Jesus’ saving name. Amen.

Read John 3:1-21.