Prayers

Reflection and Prayer

If we were to list the miracles of Christmas
we’d probably talk about virgin births
angels, perhaps
and stars that light the sky
but perhaps there’s another miracle:
one of Mary saying ‘yes’ when God asked her to believe
and Joseph saying ‘yes’ when God asked him to trust.
They had to change everything about their lives
and the birth of the Christ-child wasn’t possible until they did.
What does it mean for you to say ‘yes’ to this story?
to believe that it might be possible
for the darkness to be transformed to light
and for peace to come in the world?
Those who know the darkest of the world
know the fragility of light;
we hold our breath as the candles flicker
we know they don’t always last.
the birth of Jesus doesn’t make everything right
but it shows us that the only way the darkness can be beaten
is to say ‘yes’ to the birth of light.
In the silence, we pray for those we love and miss today
and we pray for a broken world . . .

[Time of silence,
then invite people to take one of the candles from the side,
put it onto the worship space, and light it as we say the following prayer:]

God,
this is the season for miracles
and we pray for one today.
Where there is sorrow,
we pray for your grace to light the darkness.
Where is despair,
we pray for your hope to light the darkness.
Where there is hatred,
we pray for your forgiveness to light the darkness.
Where there is war,
we pray for your love to light the darkness.
Where there is confusion,
we pray for your peace to light the darkness.
Where there is injustice,
we pray for your courage to light the darkness.
Where there is fear
we pray for your joy to light the darkness.

It is the season for miracles
and we pray for one today:
Come, Lord Jesus, may your light come into our world.

Amen.

~ written by Cheryl Lawrie on her blog [hold this space].
http://holdthisspace.org.au/

Candle-lighting Prayer

Holy One, be the light in our darkness tonight.
As we have lit the candle of hope,
we pray for those who feel hopeless . . .

As we have lit the candle of peace,
we pray for all victims of violence . . .

As we have lit the candle of joy,
we pray for those whose hearts are weighed down by sorrow . . .

As we have lit the candle of love,
we pray for those who do not feel loved,
for those who struggle to love others . . .

Holy One, be the light in our darkness tonight,
that we might reflect your light into the dark corners of our world.

Amen.

~ written by Joanna Harader, and posted on her Spacious Faith blog.
http://spaciousfaith.com/

Advent Prayer

To you Lord, we lift up our heads, hearts and hands in prayer.
We put our trust in you, believing that your word is true.
We lift up to you our longing for hope in a despairing world.
We lift up to you our need for hope
in a time of deep hopelessness in our world.
We lift up to you our deep desire for hope
in a bleak and sometimes depressing world.

You promised hope to Israelites and you kept your promise.
You promised hope in the coming of your son
and he was hope for the world.
You promised hope to the early church and that hope was not denied.
You promise hope to us and we pray for your continued faithfulness.
Lord, we pray for strength when our faith falters.
We pray for you to pour on your love so it fills our lives
and splashes over on everyone around you.
Fill us with confidence in your presence in our lives.
Fill us with your joy and peace
as we go through this busy time of year.

Keep our minds focused on you,
our hearts filled with you and ours outstretched for you.

~ Rev. Abi, on her Long and Winding Road blog.
http://vicarofwadley.blogspot.ca/