A Christmas/New Year Prayer

Every time you move you are given the gift of examination. You need to take the time to figure out what things are worth moving, what things are worth passing along or leaving behind, and what things need to meet landfill. Hopefully at the end of it you are left with a tight grip on the things that reflect and shape who you are.

Two and a half years ago Jen and I moved, in just about every way a couple people can. We moved into our home on Pulawski SW. But we also moved into parenthood, into a new season of life, into new friendships, and we moved deeply and irrevocably into The Church. In that last move we tried to be very careful about only holding on to those things that are closest to our hearts as followers of Jesus, and leaving everything else open so we could learn from the community we were joining at Servant's.


One of the things that we carefully wrapped in newspaper and tucked away for the journey was the quite rhythm of the church year. We knew that our own worship needed guidance from the shepherd's staff of these old movements of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany; Lent, Easter and Pentecost. When we got to Servant's we talked with Ben about his commitments for our worshiping life and with the elders about theirs, then we tentatively unpacked the rhythms observed by saints throughout the centuries.
For the third time we'll spend half the year treading the well worn path of these seasons, trusting that with every lap around the calendar their ancient lessons work deeper into our life and witness.

It is interesting how often the themes of the Church year line up with the calendar and the seasons of creation. Easter's empty tomb enters into call and response with the budding trees, Pentecost sets the Spirit fire anew when the city heats up for summer, and Christmas sets us up for boundless hope and possibilities as New Years resolutions are made (and often broken).

One of the biggest blessings of my job is when families give me the gift of walking into a hospital room to pray over a new born child. Every time it happens I am overwhelmed with a sense of wonder and hope for the little person in my arms. They seem to literally burst with life. Everything, right down to their shallow breathing, is so new and unknown.



I get the same feeling for the church every year when we have these two precious weeks of the Christmas season. After my Advent longing for God's people the newborn message of Christ's coming is fertile ground for joy and expectation for what God has in store for his bride. Combine that newborn expectation with the close of another calendar year and all the budgets and ministry plans that go with it and it serves as a pretty good time to reflect and look forward. You'll hear a bit more of that next week from me. For today, a Christmas/New Year prayer

I'd like to invite you to post a comment with your own prayer for the seasons to come.


God of glory, God of grace
Fill this year with the power of your presence
As you came so long ago, come anew
Be born in us today and every day

So that the brightness of your beauty
might be reflected in your bride
So that the goodness of your grace
might be given from our receiving hands
into the waiting hands of the world

Meet us, O Lord, in our lives of worship
and change us in the meeting
Call up from our deep and hidden places
the gifts that you knit into our being
and grant us the vision and boldness
to be the incarnation of those finger prints of the Spirit

Help us to be more than what we are
Help us to see with eyes more true than our own
Help us to walk with purpose deeper than we plan
Help us to grow in gratitude for your love that precedes ours

Teach us to Live.

In the name of Emmanuel, Amen.