Sunday, December 20, 2015
Offered by Judith L. Watt, Associate Pastor

God of grace, give us the gift of imagination, that we might imagine the wonder of a new world being born, that we might imagine the promise of hope that Mary carried in her womb, that we might imagine ourselves as capable of bearing Christ to the world. Help us to leap with joy at the promise.

Dear Lord, we worry about our world, and we continue to pray for peace efforts focused on Syria, for refugees in crowded camps, for victims of violence in every corner of the world, for governments that oppress those within their borders. All of it reminds us of how desperately your perfect Love is needed.

We pray for family and friends trying to meet the challenges of daily life—worried about children, fighting illness, overwhelmed by depression, struggling with relationships, grieving the death of a loved one. Break into those lives with at least a glimmer of light. Show us how we can help. Use the challenges in all of our lives, our worries and fears, the roadblocks in our way, to draw us even more closely to you, because in the deepest places of our souls somehow we know you are here.

For those who yearn for the wonder of Christmas to well up again, show yourself this week—in the eyes of a child or in the chaos that seems to be everywhere. In the twinkling of lights, in the smile of a stranger, or even in our inability to find the perfect gift, show yourself this week and help everything within us leap for joy. For the labor is beginning and soon the earth will be in the throes of birth. Let the Coming One come forth. And let us, the brothers and sisters of this Child of Peace, feel the glory of the nativity. We pray this in the name of Emmanuel, saying, Our Father . . .

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church