The big day is over, and life returns to normal. Except it doesn’t, because the Big Day was and is and always shall be The Big Day. God enters into human history in a unique way, and nothing should or shall ever be truly the same again. We gather in praise of a God who will not allow His creation to be lost or spoiled by us. Instead, He intercedes among us by sending His Anointed One among us. Therefore, let us, with confidence, worship the God of the Christmas Hope.
Pastoral Prayer
All thanks and praise be to Thee, O God, for sticking with us through all things, not allowing us to turn aside from Thy ways. Thou didst send prophets and priests and kings to help us find the right path, but in the end Thou didst send one in Thy likeness, Jesus, whom we call the Christ. Help us to perceive more clearly how he leads us to Thee, and enable us to see in His teachings and actions Thy teachings and actions. May the love he felt for everyone be the kind of love we exhibit, even toward those with whom we most disagree. Expand the community of the Church to include more and more people, despite our not all believing the same things or seeking to do the same things. Forgive us when we act as though what we believe is the only way to believe, or when we use theological differences of opinion as weapons against one another.
We ask Thy blessings to be with everyone for whom this holiday season does not bring joy but rather sorrow or pain. Uphold the lonely, the forgotten, the hungry, the desperately poor, the isolated, the ill, and the bereaved. Teach us how individually we may more effectively become Thy ministers to such people, so that we may reflect to them the love we experience from Thee.
As we come to the dawn of another new year, we pray for both the world and our nation. Be with the leaders of all nations, and especially with those where tension, warfare, and rancor are the norm rather than the exception. Move the hearts of all of us to seek peace more enthusiastically than we pursue our own self-interest or national interest. We pray for the President and Members of Congress in our own country who are serving in office at a pivotal time in world history. Grant them a commitment to the true good of the nation more than the perceived good of their own party, and to fairness rather than raw power. Help what we choose to believe about our country to become the reality of what our country is. These and all things we pray in Jesus’ name. Now we join together in prayer as he instructed his disciples, saying, Our Father….