Theme “Christmas”
Humanity still hopes at Christmas
This reading originally appeared in The Inquirer, Issue 8001, https://www.inquirer.org.uk/pages/
What is Christmas?
Candles herald the advent of the child of sorrows.
Twinkling lights challenge winter’s darkness and our own.
Green trees, red berries, tell of nature’s endurance.
Carols evoke praise and celebration and sweet nostalgia.
Old tales speak of magic and miracle and human redemption.
The sugared story of a teenager, pregnant out of wedlock,
of a family
Thanksgiving at Christmas
God of our hearts, who comes to us
in the wisdom of the ancients
and in the innocence of a new-born child,
we come to you in thanksgiving
on this Christmas Day.
We thank you for Jesus:
for the Way of love that he showed us,
and walked himself.
We thank you for the stories of his
The same stars shine: Christmas 2020
The same stars shine on us
as shone on Bethlehem
when Jesus was born.
They shone on the same world
with light that even then was
ancient beyond comprehension.
It was a world of misery and unrest,
beset by war and pestilence,
oppression and bitterness,
cruelty, grief, and pain.
It was a world not so very unlike
our
Prayer for Advent
Eternal spirit, indwelling in us all, may we never forget the significance of advent as a time of preparation, not just for Christmas, but for the passing of the old year and the welcoming of the new.
Christmas, for most of us, means the buying and receiving of presents, the decoration of our homes with greenery…
Christmas
Bethlehem is wherever a baby is born and wonder-filled parents enjoy the moment.
Bethlehem is wherever new lives are birthed and nurtured towards independent being.
Bethlehem is wherever renewed spirit and fresh perspective emerge from out the human shadows.
Bethlehem is wherever human imagination unfolds into stories and sculptures and symphonies.
Bethlehem is wherever seeds