leadinginworship

Advent Pandemic Prayer

Thank you, God, for thick, warm socks on crisp winter days.
Thank you for the smell of pine needles,
for the taste of a juicy orange,
for packages delivered in trucks,
and colourful lights dancing in the dark.
Thank you for the poignant pleasures
of unpacking Christmas ornaments,
and looking at photos from years gone by.
We are hanging on to thankfulness so tight this year,
because there are too many griefs that keep us up at night.
Will you be with us through this season of waiting?
Keep us safe as we wait for a vaccine,
and give godspeed to those who are rolling it out.
Bring comfort to all the homes who will celebrate Christmas
in a bittersweet way because there are too many empty chairs.
This season is particularly hard for those families touched by death.
We wonder about this world of yours,
and this cycle of life and loss…sometimes it is too hard.
Be near to those who struggle with depression and anxiety,
because loneliness is more lonely at Christmas
and grief is more grievous.
We want this Christmas to be memorably generous.
As we open our wallets to support food banks and shelters,
as we call or write relatives we haven’t seen in ages,
as we drop off soup or cookies for neighbours and friends,
we are so thankful that we have the means to give.
Even if our smiles are masked, we can give a kind word in the grocery line.
This advent, help us to let go of old grudges that clog up our lives.
Yes, people have been mean, and they’ve hurt us dreadfully.
Give us a glimpse of what it would look like to loosen our fingers
from the pain we clutch so tightly. Can you bring healing even here?
We want to experience new birth this Christmas,
your presence newborn in us. 
Immanuel, God with us.
We  are waiting.
Amen.

Blue Christmas Zoom Service in a Pandemic

This service is approximately 30 minutes, depending on how long people share. It’s designed to be very little work for you. Everyone is so tired right now, this needs to be a no muss, no fuss service. You can have one person read everything, if that’s easier. 

I’ve chosen music that I think would fit, but you may have other videos you would like to use (just be careful not to insert cheery Christmas carols, or it defeats the purpose of the words).  Check with your church’s copyright license for permissions to play the videos. 

It’s going to be less stressful if you have someone in charge of playing the videos, who can share their screen, and have the videos cued up in separate tabs, ready to play without having to negotiate the ads.

I hope this service ministers to you and other people who are having a hard season.  You can cut and paste it into a word document, or email me at [email protected] and I can send you a Word document.

Suggested opening music while people are coming in to the zoom room:  
an instrumental version of Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming

(for eg. Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming (3:46)
Jules Amaro)

Leader:  Welcome to this virtual prayer service.
The Christmas season is upon us.
Christmas is a time where we want to be merry and bright,
but in this pandemic year, that can feel impossible.
Many people are weighed down with anxiety and grief,
and it’s hard to remember the reason for the season.
Celebrations that usually happen at this time of year are cancelled
or are being shoehorned into two dimensions on a screen.
Even this service would feel better if we were physically together.
But this is our reality.
I want to thank each of you for coming today;
we are here for each other in this time, in this space.
We are here to talk to God and to listen.
This service will consist of prayers, some readings and some music;
it will take around 30 minutes.  Let’s begin.

Our call to worship is from Psalm 142: 5,6
I cry to you, O Lord;
    I say, “You are my refuge,
    my portion in the land of the living.”
Give heed to my cry,
    for I am brought very low.

Let’s pray: Here we are, God, in the land of the living,
but we are walking through some pretty deep valleys.
It is a blue Christmas for many of us,
and we need your help.
Hear our cries in this service,
and make your presence known.
We pray this in the name of Jesus,
the awaited one, Amen.

Advent Candle Lighting in a Pandemic

First Sunday of Advent

Each year we light candles in advent as a way of marking the weeks before Christmas.
In the northern hemisphere, as we progress through advent
the nights get longer, and the days get shorter.
Each week our advent candles shed more light.
This pandemic year, instead of having candles only at the front of the church,
we will light candles in our homes together:
the many flames uniting us as a worshipping community,
waiting together for Jesus.

Today we mark the first Sunday of Advent,
and today we light the candle of hope.
Advent is the season of hope.
We hope for a Saviour who can save us,
a Healer who can heal us,
and a Counsellor who hears all our sorrows.
In darkness that deepens,
we wait for the coming of the light of the world.
We wait in hope as we light this candle of hope. [light the candle]

Second Advent:

Today we mark the second Sunday of Advent,
and today we light the candle of peace.
Advent is the season of peace.
We long for a Saviour who is our Prince of Peace,
who blesses our warring world, meeting our brokenness
with a peace that passes understanding.
In darkness that deepens,
we wait for the coming of the light of the world.
We wait in peace as we light this candle of peace. [light the candle]

Third Advent

Today we mark the third Sunday of Advent,
and today we light the candle of joy!
Advent is the season of joy! We hope for Immanuel, God with us,
who knows us more than we know ourselves,
and brings us life abundant and everlasting joy.
In darkness that deepens,
we wait for the coming of the light of the world.
We wait in joy as we light this candle of joy. [light the candle]

Fourth Advent

Today we mark the fourth Sunday of Advent,
and today we light the candle of love.
Advent is the season of love. We long for love, fresh and newborn,
a Messiah who will tell us of God’s love
that will not let us go.
In darkness that deepens,
we wait for the coming of the light of the world.
We wait in love as we light this candle of love. [light the candle]

Christmas Day

Today we mark Christmas Day, the birth-day of Jesus,
and today we light the Christ-candle!
Advent is completed, and we enter the Christmas season,
rejoicing in a newborn Saviour!
Jesus is our hope realized,
our peace fulfilled,
our joy complete,
God's love overflowing.
We light the Christ-candle,
giving thanks with all the angels in heaven
for the Christmas gift
of Jesus Christ our Lord. [light the candle]

Zooming to Bethlehem: A Virtual Christmas Pageant

Zooming to Bethlehem: A Virtual Christmas Pageant 

by Carol Penner   www.leadinginworship.com 2020

(email me and I can send you this as a Word document   [email protected])

based on Luke 2:1-14, Matthew 2:1-12

Characters:     Announcer
Innkeeper (in this version she is female, but you can change that)
Leah:  Innkeeper’s daughter
Aaron:  Innkeeper’s son
Guest 1
Guest 2
Guest 3
Mary
Joseph
Cow
Donkey
Sheep
Rooster
Shepherd 1:  Larry
Shepherd 2:  Darryl (can be male or female)
Shepherd 3:  The Other Darryl (can be male or female)
Wise Person 1:  Balthasar
Wise Person 2: Melchior
Wise Person 3: Casper

This pageant would work for children, or with an intergenerational cast. Casting a senior as a star, or adults as some characters would work fine, (and might make your virtual rehearsals a little less chaotic!)

Props:              Headgear for actors to reflect their character. 
The Star should be made of big yellow construction paper, with glitter, and a hole for someone’s face in the middle.

Flashlights in the homes of all the actors, so their faces can glow when they are in the presence of angels or the baby Jesus. The star always has a flashlight on their face.

Signs: “Zooming to Bethlehem”,  Act 1, Act 2, Act 3, Act 4, Act 5

A baby doll wrapped in a plain cloth

A package wrapped in shiny paper

Instructions: 

1. Have an administrator on the call who will explain to audience that it is essential that everyone who is watching the pageant has their microphone muted and their camera off.
2. For this play to work, audience must have their Zoom settings set to Speaker View. [This means that the speaker’s face is featured in a big window.]
3. The actors keep their microphones on, but they have to be told to be very quiet when they are not speaking. Don’t even try to do the play with actors turning their microphones on and off because you know they won’t remember and they will say their lines and you won’t hear them.
4. Actors must speak loudly so the microphone picks them up and Zoom automatically makes them the speaker. As you practice, make sure people don’t rustle their script papers by the microphone of their computer, or it will cause interference.
5. It’s a good idea to have an extra person with a script who can jump in if someone’s internet connection goes down. If they jump into a new part, have them just say, “I’m Leah…” so people know who they are.
6. Alternatively, you could perform this play on Zoom, with no audience and record it, and then it could be played for the church at a later time (the participants could then watch themselves). This might be a lot less stressful.

Act 1

Announcer:     Welcome to our zoom pageant, today’s performance is called

“Zooming to Bethlehem”. [they hold up the title to the screen]  We are starting, predictably, with “Act One.” [they put a sign with Act One very close to their screen.]  Let me introduce the pageant players in Act One   We have the Innkeeper, the Innkeeper’s children Leah and Aaron, as well as Mary, Joseph and three guests at the Inn.  Act One Begins Now! 

Innkeeper:       [calling] Aaron?  Leah?  Aaron?  Leah?  Leah, are you there?  Where are my children?  They always disappear when you need them.

Leah:               Hello!  Can you hear me, mom?

Innkeeper:       I think you’re muted! I can hardly hear you!

Leah:               Oh, I was in the backyard. Now can you hear me?

Innkeeper:       Finally!  I’ve been looking for you and your brother Aaron!  We have this whole inn to take care of, and we have visitors up to the ceiling, why aren’t you helping me?

Leah:               I just went to the well to get some extra water. There were lots of people lined up, so I had to wait my turn.

Innkeeper:       Well, that’s a good thing you went for water.  With this crowd, you can’t have too much water. I’m boiling water for the laundry right now.

Guest 1:           [loudly] Excuse me, Innkeeper, I need extra towels.

Guest 2:           [whining]  Innkeeper, these candles are burnt down, don’t you have new ones?

Guest 3:           [angrily] I thought I was getting the deluxe suite!  You call that a view? My window faces onto an adobe wall!

Innkeeper:       Yes, yes, and yes, that is the best view! I will be right with you…Leah, I have to run.

Leah:               No, mom wait…  When I was at the well, just now, I met such a nice couple.

Innkeeper:       What were you doing wasting time chatting with who knows who when I needed you here?

Leah:               They looked to be in trouble, I just wanted to help.

Innkeeper:       What kind of trouble?

Leah:               Well, the woman is expecting a baby, and she was holding her stomach and kind of groaning.

Innkeeper:       Oh, that kind of trouble!

Leah:               I asked if I could help…I didn’t recognize them so I figured they are here for Caesar Augustus’s census.

Innkeeper:       I told you not to mention that man’s name in this house.  If he takes one more shekel in taxes I’ll…

Newborn at Christmas?

This Christmas can we find
a newborn love for Jesus?
Can this baby disarm us;
agendas, busyness and grudges
dropped on the ground?
Will we follow some sweet inner voice
urging us to go and see?
Can we go wondering,
unsure what we will find?
As we pass by all the places
we would expect to see God,
will something in us falter?
Will our preconceptions
about what God should be like,
what God must be like,
be suspended?
Could the presence of God
surprise us the very same way
we fall in love with a baby?
Will audacious beauty
and intense vulnerability
open something in us?
Will we be captivated into service,
commanded by delight?
At what exact point will we understand
that adoration is our natural state?
How could allegiance waver when our hearts
are totally surrendered?
Kneeling there, we wonder,
“Why should we ever leave?”
Meet us this Christmas, Lord Jesus,
in the face of every baby we meet
and in the intimacy of love newborn.

Last Christmas

To all of us comes a last Christmas.
The cycle of the year, so familiar and dear,
stops cycling for us, but not for those around us.
Some have no idea the end is near,
others look at the calendar,
and know they will not be turning more pages.
And so they enter this season with different eyes.

A last chance to put up Christmas decorations,
enjoying the memories that come with each ornament.
A last chance to taste those specific cookies,
eaten in childhood, made by someone who themselves
are now just a memory.
A last chance to hear the round of familiar songs,
each one a gem, so precious and clear.
A last chance to gather with loved ones
and speak ordinary words with special meaning,
knowing this is the last time.
A last chance to hear the Christmas story,
wondering about the meaning of a Saviour
in human form, whose name was “God with us.”

God with us, be near us now.
Help us to be present and alive,
even if pain is our constant companion.
Teach us how to savour
without bitterness and regret.
Surround us with love and loved ones,
with moments of laughter and peace.
Grow in us a brilliant sense of the beauty of life,
that sparkles so bright, so bright, in this dark time.
Show us how to let go
when we have spent our whole life hanging on.
We don’t know how to do this.
Like the shepherds falling down,
we have moments where we know fear in our very marrow.

Send us angels who lift us up,
who give us words that make our hearts sing.
These words of promise push us forward,
stumbling toward Bethlehem,
heading toward the light of a stable
and a baby whose face
we have lived our whole life to see.
Emmanuel, God with us, at last.

 

Voices This Christmas

The earth’s soundscape 

roars and lifts these days

as we listen for God’s voice

at Christmas. 

 

Marketers trumpeting,

drawing our attention

to all that we lack,

claiming only they can save us.

 

Politicians posturing,

those with power telling us

soothingly, “All is well;”

their opponents yelling, “All is lost!”

 

Protesters chanting,

outrage in their voices,

as they call for justice,

accountability and change.

 

Social media buzzing

with the world’s gossip,

the doings of the rich and famous 

and the fall of the glamorous.

 

News announcers reporting

the bad news from everywhere,

every evil thing done under the sun

and the daily list of casualties.

 

And then there are our own to-do lists,

that haunt our days and nights

reminding us with insistent voices

of all we have failed to accomplish.

 

Words clatter all around us,

and we wonder if, this Christmas,

we will have ears to hear

the message of angels on any level.

 

This Christmas will teenage girls

drop their phones as they see light, 

not from a screen, and respond,

“Here am I, a servant of the Lord”?

 

This Christmas, will men dream dreams,

that speak of things to come 

and safe paths in dangerous times,

and will they wake and take them?

 

This Christmas will seniors,

who are long past childbearing,

hear prophesies in a personal way,

and have their lives changed by that revelation?

 

This Christmas, will construction workers 

in the field drop their tools

and fall face down

overcome by the glory of God?

 

Will they hear the message “Fear not,”

and the rock solid words,

“Look, I am bringing good news

of great joy for all people.”

 

This Christmas will we hear 

the bold words of the angels

still ricocheting through space,

“A child is born this day, the Messiah, the Lord.”

 

This Christmas will we leave our business

abandoned on the ground,

dropping everything for the chance

to worship for a moment on our knees?

 

This Christmas will we be amazed 

at what God can do,

will we treasure these things,

these amazing things, in our hearts?

 

This Christmas will we go to our homes,

our bodies humming with the vibrations

of the harmonies of heaven 

sung by ageless choirs?

 

Listen!  They are still singing,

“Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace,

good will to all people.”

 

God who brought to life 

this story of salvation,

give us ears fine-tuned 

to the message of hope.

Like a mother who can hear

her baby crying through any crowd,

give us all ears to hear

the voice calling to us, 

the voice of Jesus this Christmas.

 

contact me at [email protected] if you would like this in Reader's Theatre format for 4 voices.

Candle of Peace Fourth Advent Prayer

Hear our prayer for peace this morning;
the peace of the earth, felt bodily,
our feet on this good ground,
our eyes towards the stars;
the peace of fellowship, around us now,
Christians joining here to worship
and to praise the God who made us;
the peace of the ages, because we know
we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
who rest in your presence;
the peace of harmony and love,
people working together to care and to comfort,
making sure that no one is forgotten.
There is so much peace to celebrate,
gifts from your hand.
Hear our prayer for places where we still need peace:
for all who are in pain, or facing sickness, especially ______
for the newly bereaved, who are trying to go on alone,
for the places in our world where violence reigns,
we think especially of Syria, and Gaza,
and for the homegrown violence in our own communities
where people are hurt by those they love.
We want peace to grow,
we want to be your ambassadors for peace.
Show us this week how we can make a difference,
through our presence, through our resources, through our prayers.
The angels came with a message of peace on earth so long ago;
that message still echoes, it still calls our name.
We want love on our lips as we go this week,
looking to see you in the faces of all we meet.  Amen

Longest night prayer

There are good years and bad years,
and then there are years from hell.
Hear our prayer O God, for all who are tortured by war.
You know the anguished cries,
and the hearts that have turned to stone.
These are people who will die unless you save them.
We need a Saviour for those who sit in the shadow of death:
for children who have lost their parents,
and have no one to take care of them;
for teenagers forced to fight,
and who can’t imagine a normal life;
for all who have killed and have witnessed the killing;
for all who are fleeing the violence
and looking for a place of refuge;
for parents who have no choices
and see their children starve;
for seniors who cannot believe the losses they have seen.
God, you know the particular pain of each one,
the stories of death and sexual assault,
the stories of homes and homelands destroyed.
You gather our stories in your arms,
and in this longest night, you hold them and us.
Hope shines like an infinitely distant star,
like a star over Bethlehem,
shining over towering concrete walls
and machine gun battlements.
What we need is angels with good news of peace on earth,
lighting the sky of our lives, offering relief.
On this longest night, in the mystery of your love,
steal into our world again.
Be born again in hearts that work for peace,
who will find a way through the chaos that is war.
By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
and we trust that you will guide our feet
into the way of peace.
This is our prayer, may it be so.

Blue Christmas Prayer

There are good years and bad years,
hear our prayer O God, for all who are slogging.
You know the tears that slide into pillows at night,
you hear the cries of people at the end of their rope.
We acknowledge that not all is sparkling and bright,
and that people are desperate for glad tidings.
And so we pray for good news;
for children being hurt by their parents,
who fear the people they also love;
for teenagers who struggle because they are being bullied
not just at school, but at home through social media;
for young adults who are caught
in the web of drug addiction;
for adults who have suffered marriage breakdown
and don’t know which way to turn;
for parents who have to choose between
presents under the tree or food on the table;
for those who are out of work,
and don’t know where to find employment;
for seniors who have had multiple losses,
good friends dying, or the loss of a home.
God, you know the particular pain of each one.
Our stories of grief and sickness do not fall unheard.
You gather our stories in your arms,
and in this longest night, you hold them and us,
whispering words of encouragement and hope.
Hope shines like an infinitely distant star,
like a star over Bethlehem.
What we need is angels with good news,
lighting the sky of our lives, offering relief.
On this blue Christmas, in the mystery of your love
transform us into angels, who arrive in time.
The glory of God come through a knock on the door
or a phone call, glory in text messages and emails,
glory in arms around each other.
There are no quick fixes, but we can wait together,
keeping watch over our thoughts by night,
waiting for hope, newborn in the morning.
O God, hear our prayer.

Candle of Joy Third Advent Prayer

God, giver of joy,
thank you for the open sweet gaze of babies,
for the irrepressible giggles of toddlers,
and for the sight of preschoolers holding hands as they play.
Thank you that we are made for joy
and that advent reminds us of this.
Help us wait in hopeful anticipation for this gift of joy--
an incongruous Saviour, the Prince of Peace
come down to us as a baby in diapers.
Jesus, give joy this week even to those who are suffering:
joy in the midst of illness, through a keen sense of your presence,
joy in the midst of grief, through an awareness of love deeper than death,
joy in the midst of anxiety, through sudden fleeting moments of beauty.
We are waiting for joy in a world that is often bleak and cheerless.
There is always something bothering us, a shadow.
Evil flourishes, and it blights lives and communities.
And we help it flourish—
we confess our own selfishness, hoarding things for ourselves,
or our own racism, our own fear of the other, fear of the stranger.
Around the world you know the suffering we inflict on each other.
Thank you for that even in this barren earth,
you cause joy to bubble up.
In joy, help us lavish generosity at Christmas;
not just on those we love, but generosity to charities, and to those in need.
Help us lavish forgiveness on those who’ve hurt us.
We long for the joy of relationships renewed and restored
All this joy to the world is from you,
radiating out from a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.
We join our hearts together this morning in joyful praise:
Glory to God in the Highest!  Gloria! Amen

Candle of Love Second Advent Prayer

Thank you that your love falls down like snow, covering everything.
We need your love now, more than ever.
We confess that we hate some people:
people who have hurt us,
people who think differently than us,
people who look differently than us.
And we are careless enough to let hatred grow,
underestimating its power in our world.
God, we need a Saviour who can save us from ourselves.
Thank you for your love that covers our world like oceans.
Thank you for deep love that will help us care for those who are sick,
and be faithful companions to those who are grieving.
We think especially of....
Forgive us when we make idols of screens,
turning to them instead of to you,
neglecting those we are called to love truly and deeply.
Thank you for your love that moves us, like the wind,
pushing us to where your love is needed, giving us energy to be generous.
Thank you that love is a natural resource, all around us every day.
Thank you for the gift of an ordered society, clean water, health care:
These come to us from people who cared,
who worked to make the world a better place.
We pray today for societies that are breaking down,
like Venezuela, or where people are oppressed, like Gaza and North Korea.
Thank you for the gift of the Prince of Peace
who is born again in the hearts of all who work for peace.
You slip into our world in mysterious ways.
This Christmas we want our church community and our homes
to be filled with love,
we want to be opening our doors not just to those who are dear to us,
but to those who are on the edges.
Behold you stand at the door and knock.
Lord Jesus, come in!
Amen.

Darkness on Christmas Eve Poem

On the darkness of the road
a couple walks, bone-weary,
seeking a sanctuary
where new life can be born.

In the darkness of the womb
a baby stirs and turns,
unaware of a destiny
and a coming birth day.

In the darkness of the night,
Herod looks out at his kingdom
sensing a shift that is coming
that is beyond his control.

In the darkness of closed eyes,
Mary breathes through contractions,
sweat dripping, she longs more than anyone
for the birth of the Saviour.

In the darkness of unknowing,
Joseph prays for deliverance,
wondering if Mary will survive
and find new life with her baby.

In the darkness of a stable,
a baby’s cry is heard,
and a mother’s breathing,
and a father’s sighs.

In the darkness of the hillside,
a song is heard by shepherds,
glorious, heart-stopping, memorable,
a song of songs for the world to hear.

In the darkness of the Judaean night,
shepherds follow directions
and bow to worship a newborn monarch,
hours old, in the arms of his mother.

In the darkness of the world,
as Mary’s loving arms hold her baby,
a Roman occupying army paces,
and zealots make plans for revolution.

In the darkness of the world,
the good and the bad are bathed
in the moon’s rays, even as dawn
peeks it’s great eye over the horizon.
Christmas Day.

Bible Story Christmas Prayer

The news that the Word is made flesh
comes to us on the pages of our holy book.
Tens of thousands of Bibles opened around the world this night
and the good news read out in basilicas and barrios,
in chapels, churches and television broadcast studios.
In every language of the world the good news rings out,
“And it came to pass in those days.”
Thank you God for the gift of scripture,
telling us of those first witnesses of your coming.
Mary, heavy with child, journeying to Bethlehem.
Joseph, anxious with worry, hurrying to arrive in time.
The innkeeper, moved by compassion, helping the weary couple.
The animals, warm and heavy, gazing quietly on this stable birth.
The angels, massed and shining, singing glorious glad tidings.
The shepherds, on the ground, receiving brilliant news from heaven.
Thank you for the people who wrote this story down
and copied it out, manuscript after manuscript.
Thank you for those who preserved this good news,
even in the face of persecution and death.
Thank you for those who cherished it, and interpreted it,
who studied ancient languages and translated it,
serving up the Bible in words we can understand.
Thank you for this country, where we can worship without fear,
where scriptures can be read and passed on.
Thank you for the gospel of Christmas ringing out again this year,
as it has from the time of Christ, a story of peace
and goodwill to all people, a story of hope.
Holy Jesus, child of the world, child of God,
we welcome you into our world.
The Living Word, breathing among us,
a Saviour with surprisingly small fingers.

Advent prayer for people who don't really believe in God

These are the things that I say out loud.
There is beauty in this season of celebration:
children waiting for presents,
hospitality being prepared,
music floating, lights sparkling,
and even strangers smiling at each other.
Waiting is something I am doing.
I am waiting for peace on earth,
I am waiting for an end to hostilities,
I am waiting for healing and hope.
If there was a God, I would ask why,
and lay out all the suffering I’ve seen under the sun,
and demand an accounting.
 I do the same for us, the global us,
and I can’t make out an answer.
Life is so good and so ruined.
In spite of everything, I want love to well up,
still hoping for a better future, still trying,
still wanting to live, and to make hope shine
in the eyes of every child on earth
this Christmas morning.

Candle of Hope First Advent Prayer

On this most beautiful of mornings
we come with thankfulness for life and breath.
Thankful for the brilliant blue of the winter sky,
for the bracing pinch of the cold wind on our cheeks,
for the lacy frost decorating our windows,
for the comfort of coffee and tea and hot chocolate,
for the taste of cinnamon and gingerbread.
Open our eyes to the beauty all around us.
Thank you for another season of advent
where we light a candle of hope
which we need so much in these dark times.
A candle of hope for those we know who grieving,
or who are sick….especially____________.
A candle of hope for people whose marriages have broken down.
Hope for the unemployed, who wonder how they’ll pay their bills.
Hope for families camped at borders, waiting for gates to open.
Hope for Syria, where war makers and bloodshed rule.
Hope for our dear planet earth, so trampled by our collective human footprints.
We confess that we are prone to despair—
that hollow feeling that life is too precarious to bear
and there is nothing we can do about it. We think hope is impossible.
Thank you that you are an impossible hope specialist.
You send special delivery news of a saviour whose birth changes us all.
Jesus, keep hope alive in our hearts every day this week.
Hope that it’s worthwhile being kind to strangers,
hope that generosity can make a difference,
hope that tenderness is doable.
Give us strength to be a small light for you,
as small as a single advent candle—our words and actions shining for you.
A flame for you, only for you, our God of Hope.
Amen.

Thanksgiving at Christmas

Thank you for bare trees outlined in white,
and steely gray skies brooding over the blue lake.
Thank you for the sound of wind
rushing all the way from the far north.
Thank you for the crack of ice puddles
under our feet, and the cold smell of winter.
In this dark season, thank you for Christmas,
and the gift of a child of hope.
Thank you for news so good,
it still rings out as voices around the world
speak of good tidings of great joy
which shall be to all people.
Thank you that billions of people each day
love their neighbor, opening their door,
sharing what they have,
trying to find a way to live in peace.
Thank you that the best laid plans
of those who sow hatred and fear,
will come to nothing.
Thank you that your angels tell us to “Fear not.”
Thank you for hope that lives even in places
designed to be hopeless.
Hope ringing out and over every wall,
rising up in refugee camps,
walking through locked prison doors,
simmering in the hearts of those brought low,
rising up in the laughter of children
who have no home and no citizenship.
This Christmas open us to this revolutionary hope,
and your new ways of seeing and being.
Where there is judgement in our families, bring acceptance.
Where there are grudges, your sweet release.
Where love has faltered, renew it like the dawn,
and give us words to tell those we love
what they most want to hear.
Let hope be born again in our humblest, darkest places
as we join with the angels in their song of joy,
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace."
Let this be our benediction,
let this be our song in the morning,
let it be on our lips, and in our hearts;
“Glory, hallelujah, jubilee…Christ is born today.”

Advent Angel Prayer

God, the message of the angels of Bethlehem was true.
Good news of great joy came with Jesus’ birth,
with his life, with his sacrifice for us,
and with his glorious resurrection, also announced by angels.
We wait so hopefully for great joy.
Open our eyes to the angels who walk among us,
caring for the sick, comforting the brokenhearted,
standing up for those whose voices are silenced,
doing the hard and holy work of bringing your peace on earth.
Thank you that you have never stopped sending angels.
Help us to be angels, heralds of love,
believing in your power to bring down the mighty,
believing that truth will triumph over lies,
and that hated will never have the last word.
Help us this week to resist the power of lies,
the ones we tell ourselves, 
and especially the ones we tell our loved ones.
Lying is so easy and simple to do, and so devastating.
We pray especially today for the peace of Jerusalem.
A holy city for so many, it is torn by tension,
and just as when Jesus was born,
giant empires dictate its rise and fall.
Raise up peacemakers who can speak truth to power,
and unmask violence of every type.
Thank you for the way you are entering into our world
every day, being born again in the humblest of places,
wherever love shines.
Come, Lord Jesus. 

Hope against Hope Advent Prayer

God who hears us:
as advent begins, we are already filled up with waiting.
Waiting to hear the next report of bad news;
another mass shooting, another refugee crisis,
another famine, another environmental disaster,
another deadly virus outbreak, another war.
The news is a litany of things to fear
that fills our heads with dread.
We wait for your help.
Remind us of Mary and Joseph,
ordinary people living in a country
under the boot of an oppressive regime,
who believed in your salvation,
holding on to hope against hope.
We hold on to you, believing in your ability
to be born again even in times like these.
Give us eyes to see your arriving,
as we do the hard work of being decent
in the rough and tumble of family life,
Give us ears to see your arriving
as we hear prophets proclaim good news
that the powerful will be brought down
and those who live in poverty will rejoice.
We long to touch the hem of your garment
so that those we know who are sick
could be healed,
those who are grieving could be comforted.
We long to taste your good news!
In this season of growing darkness,
keep our eyes fixed on the pinpoints of light,
that shine and shine
because nothing can put them out.
In the name of Jesus, our hope, we pray,  Amen

Winter Solstice Prayer for the Northern Hemisphere

God of Winter

even at mid-day today the winter solstice sun

crouched low over the southern horizon.

Low noon, and the day is short.

Darkness sits with us early and late,

lingering longer the further north we go.

Bundled against the cold,

the lack of light weighs on us,

and we are plagued with dark worries

in these troubled times.

And yet, you order this big old earth.

Sailing through space it tips only so far,

but no further from the sun.

Thank you for solar power and centripetal forces

which grip us, warm us, and give us life.

Thank you for reminders when we become too

self-absorbed with our own importance:

the world is spinning as it should

without any help from us.

God of the distant Spring,

be with us in this cold season.

Be our light when all other lights fail;

we live and move and have our being

in your love.