Christmas Babe, Born In A Cowshed...
Intercession
Prayers usually include these concerns and may follow this sequence:
The Church of Christ
Creation, human society, the Sovereign and those in authority
The local community
Those who suffer
The communion of saints
These responses may be used:
These responses may be used:
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Lord, hear us.
Lord, graciously hear us.
Christmas Babe, born in a cowshed among the animals, sharing the stench and the squelch of filthy straw, how did you come to grow up so perfect from such awful beginnings? How did you rise above the dirt and degradation? Why did you actively seek out the poor and the abused and the outcasts? Why didn't you search for wealth and a way up the ladder of opportunity? The only ladder you found was in the shape of a cross, and it led down, not up.
Christmas Babe, if all your Church actively sought out the poor and the abused and the outcasts, maybe there wouldn't be any more poor in the world. I want to ask you to make me see with your eyes as I drop a couple of quid into the Christmas collection for the homeless, but I'm not sure I could stand it. Perhaps I'm more comfortable not knowing, keeping invisible people invisible.
Christmas Babe, amid the glamour and excitement and delights of this Christmas, when candles glow at midnight services and voices carol the Good News to the waiting world, be with those who are outside it all because they spend Christmas in a shelter or on the streets.
And when our children are tired of their Christmas presents or the presents lie broken under the Christmas tree, and we all feel over-full with Christmas pudding and a little lightheaded from the mulled wine, don't remind us too much of those who never feel over-full and who never see food, let alone presents. We don't want too much of a guilt-trip this Christmas, thank you. But be with them too, Christmas Babe, the ones who have nothing and who barely survive.
Christmas Babe, we'll spare a thought for those who are suffering this Christmas, because despite all those Christmas cards of a beautifully dressed and calm Madonna cradling her gorgeous new baby, your mother Mary probably suffered too, that first Christmas. It can't have been much fun giving birth in a cowshed in the depths of winter, without even a bowl of hot water. So be with those who suffer, Christmas Babe, especially those who can't enjoy Christmas because they're too sick.
Even amongst all the rejoicing over a new birth - your birth, Christmas Babe - there were already the seeds of death. When the Wise Men came to visit you just after Christmas, one of them brought bitter myrhh, a burial spice. And so the cycle goes on. Hidden within the rejoicing are always the seeds of death. So be with those who are dying, Christmas Babe, and with the families and friends they leave behind them. And may they know that since your birth, death isn't the terrible end it once was, but is merely the gateway to that paradise where you live for ever.
Merciful Father,
Accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Church of Christ
Creation, human society, the Sovereign and those in authority
The local community
Those who suffer
The communion of saints
These responses may be used:
These responses may be used:
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Lord, hear us.
Lord, graciously hear us.
Christmas Babe, born in a cowshed among the animals, sharing the stench and the squelch of filthy straw, how did you come to grow up so perfect from such awful beginnings? How did you rise above the dirt and degradation? Why did you actively seek out the poor and the abused and the outcasts? Why didn't you search for wealth and a way up the ladder of opportunity? The only ladder you found was in the shape of a cross, and it led down, not up.
Christmas Babe, if all your Church actively sought out the poor and the abused and the outcasts, maybe there wouldn't be any more poor in the world. I want to ask you to make me see with your eyes as I drop a couple of quid into the Christmas collection for the homeless, but I'm not sure I could stand it. Perhaps I'm more comfortable not knowing, keeping invisible people invisible.
Christmas Babe, amid the glamour and excitement and delights of this Christmas, when candles glow at midnight services and voices carol the Good News to the waiting world, be with those who are outside it all because they spend Christmas in a shelter or on the streets.
And when our children are tired of their Christmas presents or the presents lie broken under the Christmas tree, and we all feel over-full with Christmas pudding and a little lightheaded from the mulled wine, don't remind us too much of those who never feel over-full and who never see food, let alone presents. We don't want too much of a guilt-trip this Christmas, thank you. But be with them too, Christmas Babe, the ones who have nothing and who barely survive.
Christmas Babe, we'll spare a thought for those who are suffering this Christmas, because despite all those Christmas cards of a beautifully dressed and calm Madonna cradling her gorgeous new baby, your mother Mary probably suffered too, that first Christmas. It can't have been much fun giving birth in a cowshed in the depths of winter, without even a bowl of hot water. So be with those who suffer, Christmas Babe, especially those who can't enjoy Christmas because they're too sick.
Even amongst all the rejoicing over a new birth - your birth, Christmas Babe - there were already the seeds of death. When the Wise Men came to visit you just after Christmas, one of them brought bitter myrhh, a burial spice. And so the cycle goes on. Hidden within the rejoicing are always the seeds of death. So be with those who are dying, Christmas Babe, and with the families and friends they leave behind them. And may they know that since your birth, death isn't the terrible end it once was, but is merely the gateway to that paradise where you live for ever.
Merciful Father,
Accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
