Prayers for Others Christmas Day

6 people are standing at the front of the church. Person 1 faces the microphone. 5 people wearing party hats stand in a line with their backs to the congregation. Before each person speaks they turn, face the congregation and remove their hat.

Person 1

Well Jesus, Christmas morning is finally here.

Tinsel is flying, presents are being opened.

We are all here to sing and celebrate the way you came into our world.

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come,” we sing.

But maybe it’s not everyone that feels like celebrating today …

Person 2

Our family is such a mess. Lunch is at Mum’s, dinner’s at Dads and no one likes talking to each other much.

Person  1

Lord Jesus, we pray for broken relationships, broken families, broken hearts. Bring reconciliation and new beginnings. Bring paths through the wilderness. May peace, hope and joy be real for these people today and in the days to come.

Person 3

This is our first Christmas without grandma.

Person 1

Lord Jesus, we pray for anyone who is missing someone today. Bring comfort. May peace, joy and hope be real for these people today and in the days to come.

Person 4

I feel so sad all the time. I don’t remember the last time I felt happy.

Person 1

Lord Jesus, we pray for people who are living with depression and other mental health conditions for whom celebration seems a difficult or forgotten idea.  And we pray for people who struggle with their health in other ways. Bring your healing. May peace, hope and joy be real for these people today and in the days to come.

Person 5

Presents? I don’t even have enough to feed my family today.

Person 1

Lord Jesus, we pray for enough for all people. We pray for just trade, good leadership, good sharing, good seasons, generous giving. May peace, hope and joy be real for these people today and in the days to come.

Person 6

My country is in a state of war. I don’t know what tomorrow might bring.

Person 1

Lord Jesus, we pray for people in battle zones, for whom survival will be a higher priority than celebration today. May peace, hope and joy be real for these people today and in the days to come.

Lord Jesus, born at Christmas, Lord of our world, you came to live among us and be a light for us in all of our beauty and all of our pain. Help us, along with you, to be peacemakers, hope bringers and joy givers today and in the days to come.

Amen

Christmas prayer of praise and confession

Jesus,

We celebrate your coming today.

We celebrate the exciting news that once we were a people living in darkness

And now we are a people living in the light.

Once we could only imagine what God was like

But you came and dwelt among us

And now we can read and hear and experience ourselves

The way you lived and live and dwell among your people.

We celebrate the way you befriend us and heal us and make us whole

We celebrate the way you promise that you will never leave us alone

We celebrate the way that because you have been here with us

our sins have been separated from us as far as the East is separated from the West.

Forgive us if, long after Christmas day

We still see you as a gentle, pink baby lying in a manger.

Forgive us if we sing the songs and decorate our homes and give and receive presents

And don’t reflect the celebration of you coming in our relationships, in our work, in our lives.

Teach us to live our lives joyfully, because you have been here and you are here and you promise to stay with us as we live our lives.

We pray this in your precious name, Jesus.

Amen.

Prayer of praise and adoration – Christmas Eve

Lord, as we await Christmas morning we wonder,

Will our lives truly proclaim who you are tomorrow?

As we eat and drink and drink and eat and eat and drink

Remind us that yes, our God is a God of plenty, but you came to be on the side of the poor, the ones who have few possessions and less power.

As we enjoy the atmosphere of homes decorated with lights, Christmas greetings and colour,

Remind us that yes, our God is a God of colour and flamboyance, but you arrived in this world in a dusty cave with the smell of hay and dung and dust.

Tomorrow, as we think about the things that need to be done, the time the turkey needs to go on, who needs to be picked up when, whether people will be happy with their presents and whether there’ll be enough food,

Remind us that our God is a God of welcome and family, but you came to us to show us that you love it when we simply drop everything and sit with you and enjoy being in your presence.

Tomorrow, as we consider who will be with us, who might argue with who, who we’ll miss and how we wish things could be different

Remind us that our God is a God who listens to our pain, but you came to heal us and forgive us.

Tomorrow, as we drown our loungerooms in wrapping paper and lavish gifts on each other, remind us that, yes, our God is a generous God and a giver of gifts too numerous to mention, but there is one gift which surpasses them all, and that is the gift we celebrate tomorrow.

O Lord, let your presence fall.

Break in through the tinsel and the advertising and the chaos.

Break in through our shopping lists and our preparations and our family gatherings.

Come to us again and be our Christmas, Lord.

Amen.

Christmas prayer

Jesus,

Our friend and brother, teacher and Saviour

Because our world values strength and wealth and power

But you came to us as a vulnerable baby, holding nothing in your hands,

You continue to amaze us and we praise you.

Because the world is so troubled and we can feel frightened and angry

But your Spirit is a spirit of peace

You continue to amaze us and we give you thanks.

Because people around us let us down and we find ourselves alone

But you are always walking beside us

You continue to amaze us and we give you thanks.

Because we hurt other people and ourselves, and we bind ourselves up in our own mess

But you came and keep coming to forgive us and heal us and set us free

You continue to amaze us and we give you thanks.

Because we want the world and our families and our lives to be full of the joy and

Love and peace that we talk about as we prepare for Christmas

And you share this desire with us

And because you continue to challenge us and inspire us and encourage us

We praise you and thank you.

Amen.

God of light in the holidays

Loving God,

As you know, some of us have been on holidays.

It was strange this time.

When I’m at work I’m so aware of your presence.

In the hospital as I enter each room as a chaplain I know you’re there with me.

When I don’t know what to say I silently call out to you.

I talk to you as I walk the corridors and ask you where to go next.

But on holidays – relaxing in Echuca and Canberra and Nerrandera -  it wasn’t so clear.

Where can you be found when I’m not living on the edge?

But soon I found you.

I must say I was a little surprised to find you at Parliament House.

I saw you in the diversity of the people visiting

And the way that, even if we don’t always do it well

This country was set up to be fair and just, to treat all people equally, to give everyone a voice. Sounds like you must have had something to do with that.

I noticed your work at the War Memorial too.

Parts of it were dark and scary and showed us at our very worst.

But then there were the clear signs that you had been at work in the dark -

People who put other people’s lives before their own and did courageous things

People who worked long hours to care for others when they themselves were sick and hungry and exhausted

The sounds of the changi choir wafting above the sadness, uniting people, pointing to something bigger, bringing hope.

And then, those last few days when we were camped by the billabong and it seemed like no one else was there with us, we could see your handiwork.

We knew you in the golden yellow light of dusk, as we watched the azure kingfishers flying to and fro.

We sat for a long time by the fire and watched in wonder as this enormous earth we were sitting on passed between the moon and the sun and the moon turned red. How small we felt. What an enormous universe we are a part of. How great you are.

And then in the morning we revelled in the brilliant golden white light of dawn and the way it made the most mundane things look brilliant and fresh and new and full of possibility.

That sounds like something you would enjoy doing.

Even the songs of the birds sounded more beautiful in that light.

God, present in all places, in all times

God of wonders,

God of light,

We praise you.

Amen

Gappy days confession

Loving God,

When we look around at each other some days we can see that when you made us you made us in your image. You made us creative and loving and to be in relationship. At our best we are courageous and generous and serving. But some days there are big gaps in between the good things. 

We’re sorry.

We’re sorry when we push ourselves up by pressing down on other people.

When we demand what we think we deserve.

When we want to be the top dog.

We’re sorry when we’re not good sharers

When we hold our ground

When we draw the circle too small or dream too tiny.

We’re sorry when we look in and not out

When we hold on with a vice like grip instead of opening our hands and letting go.

When we want to do things the tightly controlled, take no chances, risk nothing way

And resist the upside-down, topsy-turvy, first-shall-be-last-and-last-shall-be-first, God- way.

Please take our gappy days

And fill them up and make them new with your grace.

We pray this in Jesus’ name

Amen.