we thank you for coming in the form of a Child.
In your presence,
we may without shame be who we are.
Open our minds, we pray, that we may discover,
not what we wish for, but what we long for:
Understanding of our weaknesses,
forgiveness of our sins,
comfort in our sadness,
and courage in the face of all our fears.
Lord,
we pray for all who have a heavy heart this day,
for those who do not feel at home in the world,
for the uprooted, the restless, and the desperate:
Deliver them from loneliness;
heal their brokenness;
and do not let them throw their lives away.
We pray for all
who have hardened their hearts
to the message of Christmas
and closed their ears to your healing Word.
We pray as much for the indifferent
as we do for the scoffers,
for the embittered as well as the disappointed,
and for all who preach hatred instead of love,
strife instead of peace.
Do not let them stay as they are,
but make them kinder,
transform them for life in your Realm of justice.
Finally, we pray for all who are happy this day.
Especially we ask you
to protect the hopeful exuberance of children,
and give their love of life as a gift
to all who seek abundant life.
All this we pray in the Name of Christ our Lord,
whose birth we celebrate during this holy season,
and who, with you and the Holy Spirit,
lives and reigns as one God,
now and forever. Amen.
—Adapted from Reformierte Liturgie: Gebete und Ordnungen für die
unter dem Wort versammelte Gemeinde, Wuppertal: Foedus ©1999
