Pause for Prayer: FRIDAY 1/10

Photo by CP

Sometime this weekend
I'll be taking down my little Christmas tree, Lord
- and I've got mixed feelings about this...

That little tree has connected me to Christmases past
and to memories that have warmed my heart
and helped me through the weeks of Advent
and celebrating Christmas as a stranger in a new place...

But at the same time, that little table tree
has reminded me of family and friends now gone,
gone home to you, Lord (for which I'm grateful)
but gone, too, beyond my reach, beyond my touch...

So the same small tree
has blessed my heart with joy
and bruised my heart with sadness -
sometimes on the same night,
in one and the same moment...

An old carol reminds me, Lord:
in the dark and dreamless streets 
of a little town called Bethlehem,  
the hopes and fears of all the years 
were met in you 
on the first of all Christmas nights...

You came to bring us joy
and you came to heal our sorrows
on the same night
and in one and the same moment:
for both the joy and healing, Lord,
my heart and soul are grateful...

Without you, Lord, I'd have no tree,
there'd be no lights, no birth to mark,
no little town to sing of,
no star to guide my way...

As this Christmas slips away then, Lord,
touch my soul with healing grace
and fill my heart with joy, the peace
that's only yours to give...

Amen.


Tweet  

     
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments