Prayer: Christmas Eve 2015

Our Father in heaven,

We thank you that Christmas is upon us. We thank you and that the search for gifts is (hopefully) almost over.  We thank you for the safe arrival of those family and friends who are coming and going, for the time off from everything to celebrate, for food and friendship  and family that are a part of so many people's Christmas.

But most of all, we are thankful to you for what we are celebrating at Christmas: your coming into the world as Jesus, God as a human being. You have come into the world to be human, and so you know what it's like for us.

You know what it's like to travel at Christmas time to be with your family.  Mary and Joseph had to travel a long way while Mary was heavily pregnant with you.  And you came from heaven down to earth, leaving your glorious throne above to enter this world as one of us! So we ask you to keep people safe as they travel this year, knowing that you can relate to the stress and danger of travelling.

You know what it is like to live in poverty - your first home was a stable, and your hospital bed was a feeding trough for animals. And so we ask you to bless those who are poor this Christmas, who have little for themselves and less to share, and those who have lost homes in natural disasters and freak weather. We pray that you will be with them this Christmas, knowing that you too have lived in poverty.

You also know the joy of receiving great gifts, because when you were young and in need the wise men came and brought you treasures. And so we ask you to bless those who this year are giving out of their wealth to those in need, because you know what it is like to receive such wonderful gifts.

You, Jesus, know the trauma of being a target of violence and hate, because when you were just a child King Herod wanted to kill you, and your family had to flee to Egypt to stay safe.  So we pray for those who have been subjected to violence, and who this Christmas have had to flee from their homes and their communities, leaving their lives behind. We ask you to bring them comfort, and to meet their needs this Christmas, and to give them somewhere safe to live, because you know the pains of being chased away from your home.

You know what it's like to be pushed to the edge of society, and to be ruled over by people who treat you as less than who you are. You grew up in a land that was conquered by people who treated you as a second class citizen, and punished you as a criminal. And so we ask you remember those who society forgets or belittles: the disabled, the homeless, the mentally ill, the prisoners in our gaols, the lonely in our nursing homes and hospitals - the rejected, the marginalised, the disaffected, those who face prejudice and discrimination. We ask you to lift them up, and shine your light on them, and fill us all with compassion and care so that we might include them, because you know what it's like to be rejected and cast aside.

Our God, you know what it is to be human, because in Jesus you are human. You know the challenges we face, the impossible rift that stands between us and you. You know that we can't come to you. We can't climb up into heaven to sit beside you. We can't possibly meet your requirements of perfection.  You know our weakness and our frailty. And we thank you that before we could even pray for it, you closed the gap, you bridged the rift. You did it by coming down to us, by being a human and living among us by becoming Immanuel - God with us. And you came to us because you love us.

We are just in awe that you would come to us like this, experience our weaknesses and our troubles, and reach out across the divide to take hold of us. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Please help us this year to do the same, and to care for all those who you care for, who remind us of you in their difficulties. Make this Christmas a time when we remember you, and bring love to those who you came to live beside.

We pray this in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, Amen