The day is coming which brings joy to the hearts of young children, frivolity to teenagers and young adults, and rumination and contemplation to older people. Christmas is upon us, the time when we hear again of God’s inestimable love for us in the birth of a baby who becomes God’s primary messenger. Today we gather in hopes that we will again hear and respond to his message, in order to be renewed and revived in faith. Therefore let us, with Christmas confidence, worship God.
Pastoral Prayer
O Thou to whom thanks must be given for all good things, because all good comes ultimately from Thee, we thank Thee in this Christmas season for the gift of Jesus Christ, who comes into our midst as one of us, and yet also who has more of Thy spirit within him than any of us. Help us as we reflect on his coming to experience new insights of faith, new levels of understanding, new inclination to seek Thee and Thy kingdom because of what he has proclaimed about it. We praise Thee for granting unto us, the Gentiles, an entry into Thy presence by means of Jesus of Nazareth. Having invited us in, we implore Thee, loving God, to keep us in.
We pray for everyone for whom this particular Christmas will bring not joy but deep sorrow: for families in the past year have lost loved ones to gun violence; for those who have lost a loved one, and who thus face the holidays with an deep and unanticipated emptiness; for those who are separated by physical distance which produces mental or spiritual distance; for those who in the past year have encountered an experience which has undermined their faith and shaken their commitment; for those who are called upon to risk their lives on Christmas rather than to luxuriate in the mellow pleasures of the holiday. May Christmas return to everyone who supposes that somehow it has become lost forever.
We remember the sick, the forlorn, the isolated, the abandoned, the despondent, the psychologically or physically besieged, the overwhelmed, the fearful, and the terrified. Our needs are great, O God, but we trust that Thy power is greater still. Uphold those in need, so that somehow the happy strains of Christmas carols may permeate their being once again, and restore joy to their hearts. All these things we ask in the name of Jesus, the one who breaks into Thy world at Christmas, transforming it into Thy kingdom on earth. Now we pray as Jesus taught his first followers, saying, Our Father….