First Sunday after Christmas, December 28, 2014
Offered by Joyce Shin, Associate Pastor

Holy God, you work in wondrous ways. How is it that the light of this world has come to us in the form of a vulnerable life? How is it that because of him, we can see more the height and the depth of your love, the beauty and the brokenness of your world?

We know that we are responsible for so much brokenness. Yet you have entrusted us with that which you hold most dear. You have entrusted us with the care of your Son. Who are we to care for him? We struggle with the responsibilities of stewardship. Though you have put us in charge of your creation—to care for all things great and small—we are more concerned with ourselves than with others. We spend more time consuming than we spend caring.

Help us, God, to put things in right order. Help us to put our homes in right order, to make them places where we learn how to trust and honor one another and where we can return each day for rest and restoration. Help us to create societies in which the most vulnerable will be protected and valued so that all can flourish and contribute.

We do not understand how the life of one person can change the world so thoroughly, can transform every heart it touches, can create a new heaven and a new earth. But we have heard the gospel of your Son, witnessed it in daily life, and have been moved by what we have heard and seen. Empower us, God, so that we might spread the good news, not only spoken, but sung with joy, not only sung, but lived out with spirit.

We do not know why you have entrusted us with your wondrous works and with more work to do. We are simply grateful that you love us, believe in us, trust us, and risk everything for us. In the name of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, we pray as he taught us: Our Father . . .

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church