Praying Christmastide

God of love, on this bright and beaming morning, your glory fills the skies and lifts our spirits! You are the One and Only God, we honor and bless your holy name, we praise and marvel in your presence, we delight and rejoice with joy unspeakable for who you are and all you have done for us! Thank you for loving us so much that you entered the pain of our world, took on our humanity, and came in the face of Jesus our Christ, the Word made flesh for us.

God, we pray over our lives, our world. Do not, we pray, waste our pain or the suffering of this world, but bring good out of evil. We often do not choose the way of life. Forgive us our sins and help us to forgive those who have hurt or wronged us. Redeem the broken places of our lives, and renew the face of the earth in peace and harmony, trust and obedience. Teach us to stand up and walk after we have failed, to always be willing to try again with the gifts of insight and learning and wisdom.

Lord, we pray for others in our lives- friends, family, children and parents, co-workers, neighbors, and also strangers, and all of those that you will bring into our lives this week.  We also pray for those that always seem to make our life difficult and stressful- our adversaries. We give them to you Lord, praying your grace on each one as we see them in these moments, and praying that you would allow us to minister to them with a kindness and patience.

Keep us on the look-out for our spiritual adversaries:  entitlement, ingratitude,  any root of bitterness or resentment which hinders or harms our walking in love and joy. We pray for all those who do not know your love and do not know the love or acceptance of others. Give us a compassionate heart for all those who are recovering from bad church experiences. Keep us from ever using your name to hurt or wound others.

Hear our prayers for your people across this earth and crown your church with a power and grace that heals divisions, reconciles opponents, forgives and lets go of old hurts, and witnesses to your redeeming love. Pour your Spirit on us all, so that when we have left this place, we go as Ones sent out to make a difference in Jesus name. Amen.