challenge
Jesus, Bread of Life,
sleeping in a feeding trough,
in Bethlehem.
House of Bread, that’s what
your name means,
Bethlehem.
You did not know then
that you sheltered bread
which would be broken
to give life to all.
Jesus, Bread of Life,
living within us, as we
feed on you, we become
bread to nourish all around.
We must be taken, blessed,
broken and shared,
channels of the eternal
Love and Life of God.5
Note
5 Ann Lewin, previously unpublished.
Intercessions for a Christmas Midnight Service
Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth. As we hear the angels’ song, we join them in worship, and rejoice that you have come among us, Lord God, to be with us for ever. Help us to witness to that truth in our daily lives.
Lord, in your mercy:
Hear our prayer.
Lord, you came among us as Prince of Peace. We pray for peace, especially tonight in Bethlehem and the rest of the Holy Land. We pray that people of all races and creeds throughout the world will learn to live together, respecting each other, and seeking the good of all.
Lord, in your mercy:
Hear our prayer.
Lord God, you came among us as a sign of hope. We pray for all who find hope difficult to hold onto . . . refugees, asylum seekers, political prisoners, the hungry and homeless and the unloved. We thank you for those who work to make life better for others, and we pray that we will take every opportunity to help.
Lord, in your mercy:
Hear our prayer.
Lord, you came among us as light. We pray for wisdom for all in authority, that all who have power may use it with imagination and consideration for others. We pray for world leaders, and for each other in our own areas of influence and responsibility.
Lord, in your mercy:
Hear our prayer.
Lord Christ, you came that we should have fullness of life. We thank you for the life of this city, and our local community. We pray for all who are celebrating tonight in churches, pubs, clubs and at home. We pray that all of us, wherever we are, precious to you even when we don’t respond to your love, will know your stillness at the heart of our festivities, and be touched by your redeeming love.
Lord, in your mercy:
Hear our prayer.
Lord, you came to bring healing and wholeness. We pray for all who suffer. As we give thanks for our families and friends, we pray for those for whom Christmas is difficult: those who will wake to another day of loneliness or pain; those whose celebration has been marred by the death of a loved one, or the disappearance of a member of their family.
In a moment of quiet, we bring our own needs into your healing presence.
Lord, in your mercy:
Hear our prayer.
Whatever lies ahead of us, may we always hear the echo of the angels’ song, and help others to hear it too.
Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
At the turn of the year
‘New beginnings are always delightful, the threshold is the place to pause.’ So said Robert Louis Stevenson. I’m not sure I fully agree with him. New beginnings, full of promise though they may be, are often close to endings which may have been painful. New beginnings always mean change, and there is something in all of us that makes us want to hold on to old, familiar, comfortable things. There may be quite a few of us who were given new slippers for Christmas, who are keeping them for best for the time being – they’re too good for doing the housework or the gardening in: thinly disguised excuses for hanging on to the old.
But the threshold is the place to pause, yes. Thresholds are places of promise. In biblical terms they mark off something holy, a place where God is. We stand at the beginning of a year, a year where we shall find God. We don’t have to take God with us into the new year, God takes us with him. That’s what Christmas is about. Emmanuel, God with us. We don’t have to cling on to Christmas, for Christmas is never over, God is with us.
Just before Christmas, the children came forward at the end of one service to report on their morning’s activities. They had been thinking about the Christmas story, and some of the words it introduces us to. One of the words was ‘Emmanuel’.
‘What does that word mean?’ asked the vicar.
There was a long pause, then a little boy said, ‘I love you.’
That’s not the official theologian’s answer, but he’d gone right to the heart of it. ‘I love you.’ What we take with us into the new year, as reassurance and also as challenge, is the unfailing love of God. God’s love isn’t always comfortable. It doesn’t always make things right for us. It doesn’t mean we won’t suffer, or find the world a difficult place to live in. God’s love means that God is with us, right in the pain and the mess as well as the joy and the laughter. Christmas will never be over, it is always just beginning.
Pause at the threshold, and remember that God’s love is new every morning: words worth pondering daily as we discover the riches and marvels of that love.
Epiphany
Picture the scene: a room with a large dining table. Three men in sumptuous flowing robes are watching a fourth man, obviously a servant, laying the table. Through a window, which by its shape tells us that this is a scene from the East, you can see a couple approaching in the distance, pushing a buggy with a child in it. One of the men explains the situation to the servant, who is looking a bit puzzled: ‘You see, last year we went to them, so this year they are coming to us.’
I admire the skill of cartoonists, who with a few strokes of the pen and some well-chosen words can make a comment about our human condition, and at the same time make us think about deeper truths.
Over the
