So we have four services on Christmas Eve. The first is a children’s pageant. This year I will be working the nursery for that service, with the assistance (?) of little she and miss m. As a parent, I never get to volunteer in the nursery, so I’m excited about that.
Then we will have our feast with the rest of the staff before the 7:30 service. R is making chili, featuring homemade chili powder which he made today.
R will attend the 7:30 service. Then the four of us will drive home in two cars, and I will skip the 9:30 service so I can help him with the milk and cookies/bedtime routine. I will drive back at 10:30ish to serve communion at the 11:00 service.
It’s not bad, really. My main role in these services is to offer the prayer, which follows.
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it, and peace on earth to everyone.
Our gracious God,
Emmanuel,
God with us,
God for us,
God among us,
Wondrous gift of life and light to all people—
Tonight we celebrate that
the Word did indeed become flesh
and pitch a tent among us.
You came into this world…
for a Galilean carpenter and his pregnant wife,
tired from a difficult journey;
for peasant sheep-herders, gruff and common,
with dirt under their fingernails,
their breath puffing into the cool evening
as they discussed the angel’s message;
for wise men in magnificent robes,
their eyes to the heavens,
searching for signs of your arrival
and seeking you out, gifts in hand.
You came, just as you promised you would.
You came…
for a tax collector, a fisherman, a denier, a betrayer, a doubter;
for a woman drawing water, a daughter near death,
a wee little man, a rich young ruler;
for a persecutor named Saul, a merchant named Lydia,
a young man named Timothy;
You came at a particular moment in human history,
and changed that history forever.
You come even now…
for the ones who completed their Christmas to-do list,
and for those who did not;
for the ones who love this season,
and for those who endure it;
for those embraced by family this day,
and for the couple sitting alone
in a makeshift trailer on the Gulf Coast;
for the mother who will leave her children orphaned by AIDS;
for the father patrolling the streets of Baghdad;
for the family huddled together in a refugee camp in Sudan,
for people around the world this night
who clutch candles in defiance to the darkness,
You come, when your people need you the most…
And then you bid us to come:
Come and follow,
Come and be healed,
Come and believe,
Come and claim the life that is ours in your abundant love and grace,
World without end.
We claim it, this night.
We do believe.
We will follow.
Empower us by your Spirit to be Christmas people.
Amen.
10 Responses to “christmas prayers”
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Asides
» I have been remiss in posting SBJ’s latest stats: 23 pounds and 27 inches at six months. Yes, I’ve got the big mama biceps.
» Aaaaaand little she-who-is lost another tooth this week!
» SBJ is four months old, 19 pounds 5 ounces, and 26 inches tall. GIGANTOR!
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Beautiful.
Merry Christmas, reverendmother.
So, you continue to amaze me. Did you have this in your head from the time you told me you needed to write a prayer on the way to taking me to the Metro tonight and back again to your home?
I mean, I couldn’t even write an accurate list of any kind, much less a prayer, during that time frame…man, as Red Rogers (an AA guru in Houston) said, “when it’s on you, it’s on you” and delivering an inspired message, whether in prayer or sermon, is definitely “on you” ReverendMother.
Ooops… thanks. But I have to say, while I do frequently have this stuff rolling in my head for a while before putting it down on paper (many preachers work that way), I wrote this in 2003 and merely updated it tonight.
Reverendmother, sometimes timing is just perfect. The most appropriate Christmas music was on - which I wish I knew the name of it right now, but it’s Chanticleer. It was the right music in the background while reading it. And such a beautiful prayer it was. Thank you….
Thank you for this lovely prayer!
Merry Christmas to you, and to your congregation, your family and all your friends!
Woodstock
Gorgeous, moving, and simply lovely.
Merry Christmas!
That is a blessing, and will bless your congregation.
Merry Christmas.
Thank you for the prayer.
i worshipped this morning and skipped the late Christmas eve service because we had a multi-course homemade Chinese feast late this evening and now i’m too tired to go to the 11.00 service (after canoeing the entire length of our lake on this gorgeous afternoon between chopping and mixing and cleaning up behind the chief Chinese chefs (husband and son).
so your prayer was my Christmas eve service (and i sent this blog connection to my sisters, kids, and a few friends down here in rural virginia county).
thanks for adding just the right note to this evening.
blessings
Thank you for this awsome prayer Reverend Mother!