Awake

Christmas Prayer

Holy child who has entered the darkness of this world

as the dawn breaks into the darkness of night,

We pray that you might enter the shadows that linger still-

Breaking bonds that continue to hold captive your creation.

Lord in your mercy... Hear our prayer.

Child of love, rejected by the innkeeper and welcomed in the stable-

welcome again this night those rejected by the standards of mortals:

the slave, the imprisoned and the dependant,

that they might sense your presence with and for them.

Lord in your mercy... Hear our prayer.

Child of peace, whose birth caused shepherds and angels to rejoice together-

tune the cries of warfare and hatred among your children to chords of humble service and praise;

So nations may one day together resound the glory of your name.

Lord in your mercy... Hear our prayer.

Child of hope, born to die and rise again, fulfilling prophecies of old-

renew in us a sense of hope grounded in your promises:

that you have transformed the world and will one day come again to complete your redemption.

Lord in your mercy... Hear our prayer.

God of new beginnings, we lift all of these prayers before you,

and we thank you this Christmas Eve for sending your Son, our Savior, to this world.

Amen.

From Scotland to Malta

   It's been too long- I know.  In the last four weeks I've been from Scotland to Malta and back to Switzerland in between!  It's been a crazy time- but a time full of blessings as well! 

In Scotland I had the chance to spend time with good friends, eat lots of good Thanksgiving food, and see St. Andrews and Edinburgh!  It was a week off, and it both restored me and filled me with a new sense of urgency for my youth in the 7 short months I have left in youth ministry! 

After Scotland I returned to Lausanne for a week and then it was off to a conference in Malta put on by EYCE and FEMYSO.  The conference was on "gender and religion", and proved to be quite an interesting experience.  I made some great connections, and got a  chance to see where the inter-religious dialogue and gender dialogue is at present in certain European circles.  Many thanks to the Philadelphia Presbytery and my home church, Forest Grove, for supporting my trip to the conference! I should have more up on the subject soon!

As for now, it's full steam ahead!  There's a nativity program rehearsal and play this weekend, along with Christmas parties for my teens and my tweens!  As the snow continues to fall and Christmas music sounds throughout the streets, I look forward to the small army that will gather here just a few days after Christmas.  My brother, sister-in-law and best friend are coming to visit, and we'll be squeezing into my apartment for a few days! 

May God bless you in this season of Advent.  Come, Lord Jesus!

I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.

(Ps 69.3)