Pastoral Prayer 12-24-08 7pm
Gracious God,
Today, as the snow fell, strangers exchanged smiles in crowded stores, cold fingers dropped coins into Salvation Army buckets,
Today, as the snow fell, family generations free for a few hours from work or school gathered in homes, grateful for warmth, for fragrant pots on the stove, for the joy of reading a familiar story, sharing Christmas.
Today, as the snow rose, lovers thought of their beloved far away, keeping watch in Iraq, in Afghanistan, on boats and in planes, of their beloved working in makeshift hospitals in refugee camps, flood zones, and earthquake ravaged towns, teaching in rain forests and villages.
Tonight, as the stars rise, we gather in plain country chapels, suburban mega-churches, and ancient cathedrals.
Tonight, as the stars rise, worshippers in Bethlehem are passing through an Israeli checkpoint while mothers, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and more tuck their children in with prayers that the night will be quiet, no bombs, no raids.
Tonight as the stars sire, veterans are remembering holidays far from home, are gathering where heat rises on city streets, sharing the day’s end as they create makeshift shelter for the night.
*Tonight, as the stars rise, in Zimbabwe, in home after home, under trees, by dirty river banks that are the nearest thing to home some can find, parents cradle children emaciated by hunger, by cholera, remembering a young Jewish Mother bringing her child into a dangerous world, remembering Christmas.
*Tonight, as the stars rise, old men are worshipping the Christ child on tatami mats in small Japanese villages with words passed down from Meiji days.
*Tonight, because it is Christmas, our memories of the past and our hopes for the future twine together with others all across this globe, in this one promise:
*God is with us in Jesus Christ, slipping into our world in the low light of a cow warmed cave, cradled by a young woman who has made herself vulnerable to God’s need, sheltered by a young man of quiet action, watched with awe by shepherds drawn down from the hills, sung to by a chorus of voices spanning time and space, solemnly greeted by those wise enough to wait. Struck by wonder at the very idea, as it sinks in on the scent of a baby’s fresh skin and milky breathe, this is the most powerful thing in the world, so tiny and vulnerable, so irresistible.
God with us, tomorrow, as the sun rises, stay with us, be that vulnerable power that prompts us to lay aside what would hurt those you love. Weave us into the story that is renewed each time we accept your invitation to live into it. Wrap us in your Holy Spirit trusting the tomorrow that has you in it, let that be enough for us and let us be enough for those you love, the lonely, the lost, the hungry, the sick, those whose names we do not know, and those with so many names they no longer remember who they are.. AMEN
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