Another year is past, another Christmas is upon us, another year beckons. The God of our life is with us through all the circling years. Our times are in His hands. At Christmas, we remember once again the grace of God through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, whom we believe to be the Anointed One of God, the Messiah. Let us with grateful hearts and minds gather in confidence to worship the God of the Christmas hope.
Pastoral Prayer
We bow before Thee, Lord God of the universe, to thank Thee for entering into our world through the gift of Jesus, born to bring Thy light into our darkness. We confess that too often we prefer darkness to light, and we flee from Jesus rather than are drawn to him. Forgive us for our willful ways and our shortsighted actions. Help us in this Christmas season to renew our commitment to Thee and to Thy Son, and inspire us to live more fully for Thee and Thy kingdom in this world.
We praise Thee for the ways in which Jesus has transformed our own lives for the better, and for the ways in which he has greatly improved the existence of relatives and friends, and for communities of believers all around the world. When we contemplate the circumstances under which Jesus was born, whatever may have been the actual historical realities, we are astonished at the enormous effect his life has had on the subsequent history of the world. We praise Thee for all those who have been commissioned agents of the Church of Jesus Christ through the centuries, and for those whose lives they have touched by their love and concern. We praise Thee for all those people in our own lives have been instrumental in leading us to the newborn child, and whose care for us deepened our relationship to Thee.
We ask Thy presence to be especially apparent among those who will be separated from loved ones on Christmas day, and who will be deeply grieved by the separation. Grant them the comfort of Thy presence, so that the holiday may remain holy. We pray for those who face Christmas with illness or sorrow or pain; may they also sense Thy power in their lives. Loving God, teach us to look to Thee, when instead we have looked to ourselves and our own devices, and have found ourselves wanting. We pray these things in the name of Jesus, Thy fullness in the world, who has come to us in the fullness of time. Now we join together in prayer as Jesus taught us, saying, Our Father….