In the beginning, God said, “Let there be light.”
Yet somehow, we still found ourselves in the darkness.
So, God sent the Light again,
This time with human arms to hold us close,
With human eyes to seek us when we were lost,
With human feet to walk to Calvary on our behalf.
The light came to us in the dark of night,
Not in a palace of riches,
But in a stable filled with dirt and hay.
There is no place too lowly for the Light to enter.
May we open up all of our darkness
And make him room.
–Cameron Bellm, December 3 2020
Lord you come to us in another,
In a sister or a brother,
In a stranger or a friend,
Lord, in them you descend.
You come, Lord in their need,
In the challenge to our greed;
You come knocking at our door
As a child or as the poor.
You come in every cry or plea,
As we respond we give to thee.
Have we met you as a friend?
You will tell us in the end.
Angels still with us share
When we show our love and care.
Holy Beings fill the place
Where we show love and grace.
Let us not be unaware
Of the moment rich and rare
When the heavens do descend
Coming in a new-found friend.
Lord, let us see that you come
And seek entrance to our home.
Give us eyes and heart to see
You visit us eternally.
–Taken from “The Fire of the North, An Illustrated Life of St Cuthbert”
Lord, you have woven the threads of creation too finely together for any of us to exist as islands unto ourselves. Teach us to delight in your web of life and to know ourselves in community.
–Taken from “Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals”
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.
–Howard Thurman
