Shared during Sunday Worship on December 22, 2024.
O God of every good and perfect gift, in your great love you chose to illumine the darkness with the Light that is Jesus Christ. May his Light guide us in our pilgrimage through this world and lead us, at the end, into the perfect brilliance of your eternal glory.
May your Spirit rule our coming Christmas celebrations. May that spirit which dwelt in Jesus find us and form us - his spirit of unhesitating and boundless love, overflowing joy, and resolute commitment to peace.
We pray that the gifts given and received in this season, recalling as they do the gifts of the Magi, might in the joy they bring, lead us toward an unselfishness of spirit that lasts beyond Christmas and finds its highest joy in the joy of others.
May the Christmas feasts we sit down to this season remind us of the great blessings of our lives and incline us toward a deep gratitude for all that comes to us. In the midst of our great plenty, may we remember the poor, the hungry and the homeless. May the One born in borrowed lodgings to a poor family deepen our commitment to the well-being of all your children everywhere.
May the family reunions of these days lead love to grow among all families. May old hurts be forgiven and even stronger ties come to bind husband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister, friend and friend.
In the peace of a city Sunday, we pray this day for our nation and our world, especially that our leaders may find hearts of wisdom and wills resolute for peace.
We praise you this day for the gift of your Son Jesus the Christ, our Lord and Savior, who was born humbly, lived simply, and died at the hands of a sinful humanity. We praise you that he still lives in and for the world he loves. In the cold of the day, may we again be overtaken by the warmth of his love. May our words speak it, may our priorities declare it, may the very living of our lives show it. Amen.
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