O Come, O Come Emmanuel signals the start of the Advent Season. “God with us” is coming.
Majestic music and full voice congregations bellow through the church. “God with us” is approaching.
Pageant planning and choir rehearsals fill our agendas. “God with us” is getting nearer.
Items for Christmas Baskets and giving trees are filling our shopping carts. “God with us” is closer.
Silent Night and O Little Town of Bethlehem herald Jesus’s birth on Christmas Day. “God with us” is here now. Rejoice! Rejoice!
The Magi bring gifts full of meaning and honour. They depart full of wonder and awe. Alleluia, Alleluia, sounds through the earth and sky.1 “God with us” is with them and the world.
The Holy Family full of fear flees to a foreign land. “God with us” is with them and all the dispossessed.
Herod, the king, in his raging, charged he hath this day. His men of might, in his own sight, all young children to slay.2 “God with us” have you fled from us? Are you with him? With his men of might?
Gracious God, we pray for peace full stop. There are too many wars raging in your precious world. “God with us” is hard to find. We feel too small, too powerless to stop them. Fill us with a sense of urgency to act against the hatred, racism, and greed that is at the root of all conflicts. Fill all those in authority with a sense of reason and compassion. Open a crack to let the Prince of Peace entre their hearts to soften their wills and instill a true love of neighbour. Fill us with the certainty that with “God with us” all things are truly possible. This we pray in Jesus’s name. Amen.
Gracious God, please bless my partner in prayer, Valerie Bennett, as she steps away from the role of Diocesan Representative for the Anglican Fellowship of Prayer. We started this journey with great enthusiasm for the task at hand. Finding ways and means to encourage more prayer in our Diocese was harder than we thought. Writing this prayer on a regular basis was our humble effort to reach out to this community and lift up to God those issues, good or bad, that were impacting us all. I thank God for Valerie’s presence in my life and for her tempering hand in drafting these prayers.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Stacey Neale
