Youth – Personal Spiritual Growth
Prayers for Use in Daily Devotions December 28, 2011
Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace for those God favors. (Luke 2:14)
Almighty God our heavenly Father, who have given us your Son to be our brother and our friend and by whose spirit we come together to sing the songs of Christmas, and continue to celebrate the Good News of his coming:
We thank you for the vision of the shepherds at Bethlehem and for every vision of ourselves that you have given us. We pray that the vision they saw then and the vision we see now may be joined by your Son in making us more like him and our world more like his kingdom.
As gifts come to us, may we give to others. As peace is in our homes, may it come to the nations. As joy is in our hearts, may we rejoice in and work for the well-being of those who have no earthly cause for joy.
May we help one another bring to focus our common vision of a new day where brotherhood shall prevail, fears and poverty be no more, and where all your children may live in the spirit of your Son born that first Christmas night into the human family and now born again in our hearts, to bring joy to all men, in every city and over the face of the earth.
Amen.
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On December 21, 2011, the longest night of the year, once it was dark, we held the annual Homeless Persons Memorial Service to remember those individuals who were homeless, or who had been homeless, whom had died during the year. Many died as a direct consequence of being on the street. Others died much sooner than they should have because of the consequences of having lived on the street. We used a pair of shoes to symbolize each person; each pair had a tag with the name of one of the deceased, and a votive candle in one of the shoes to represent the light that person brought to the world, and the light of God which continues to burn in the darkness.
It is a great tragedy of our society that we had to remember 111 people, just from Baltimore City who had been homeless. Far too often the homeless are just numbers to be counted in annual statistical reports. In Luke 12, Jesus taught that God knows each and every creature God has created, even the sparrows. Then Jesus says, “Why, every hair on your head has been counted. There is no need to be afraid: you are worth more than many sparrows.”
The Christmas accounts talk about numbers: the number of months in a pregnancy, the registration of individuals by the Roman Empire for tax purposes, the miles in the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem and later from Bethlehem to Egypt, the number – a multitude – of angels singing praise before the shepherds, and, like the usually unnumbered homeless, the unnumbered children of Bethlehem killed by King Herod the Great.
Lord Jesus, yourself the insignificant one who escaped the attention of this world’s statisticians, and lived and died to give us a new way of numbering our fellow human beings; calling a negligible number of men and women to be your followers; blessing five barley loaves and two small fishes for the feeding of a multitude; giving significance and value to the one over against the ninety and nine; promising your presence to the two or three who gather in your name; teach is likewise to do our arithmetic with you. Amen.
This is a prayer from Singapore which may not look like a Christmas prayer, but which, when you think about it, really is.
To count the crowds that fill the street statistics are the measure.
I am a tag without a name, a chest without a treasure.
Just call me by my name
Just call me by my name
Just call me by my name, O Lord,
Just call me by my name.
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We are now in the “season of Christmas” which is the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany, January 6, when we celebrate the coming of the Wise Men. While the world stops Christmas on December 26, we in the Church are just beginning our twelve days of celebration.
Almighty God, we give you thanks each day of this Christmas season for your continued blessings to us, which comes as the continual gift of your Son, Jesus our Lord. May we, each day of this season, be drawn closed to you, to your love, and to your light, that they may be made real in us and shine though us to all those around us. To you, Almighty Father, Most Blessed Son, and Most Holy Spirit, One God, be blessing and honor and praise, now and forever. Amen.
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Pray that this Christmas, the light and love of God in Jesus Christ may spread throughout the world and tough every human heart with justice, peace and joy.
Pray for your own families and friends also.
Continue to look for ways to give gifts of your time and service to those who are in need – elderly neighbors, people in nursing homes, people who are new to the community and may not yet have any friends here, and those who are homeless. If you need suggestions, let me know.
In the midst of your busy schedules, please be intentional about finding some time, even 15 minutes a day, to connect to God. Please continue to do your reading and writing. Remember, you can call Rev. Dennis E. Dorsch at any time if you have questions or want to discuss your reading at 410-744-5127, or e-mail at ded10@aol.com.
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