Pause for Prayer: TUESDAY 12/28

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Everyone's asking everyone, Lord:

    what did you do for Christmas?

    where did you go for Christmas?

    how was your Christmas?

    what did you get for Christmas?

 

These are hard questions, painful questions,

for many people, Lord:

    for folks who had to work on Christmas,

    for folks who were alone on Christmas eve,

        and Christmas day...

    for folks who were sick this Christmas,

        especially the chronically and terminally ill,

    for folks who had nowhere to go for Christmas,

    for folks who received no gifts this Christmas,

    for folks too broke to buy gifts for family and friends,

    for folks who are grieving this Christmas,

    for folks whose Christmas plans were scuttled by Covid,

    for folks whose Christmas joy is muted by depression,

    for folks whose fears and anxieties increase

        right around the holidays,

    for folks whose families are broken,

        whose friendships are unraveling...

 

Lots of hard questions

    for so many people...

 

So I pray this morning, Lord, 

for those whose Christmas this year

    was less than it might have been,

    less than what was hoped for or expected...

I pray for those whose Christmas memories

    tell a sad story and are hard to bear...

I pray for those whose hopes for a happy Christmas

    were sidetracked by circumstances

or by the harsh words and deeds 

    that sabotaged their best intentions...

I pray for those who were alone this Christmas

    and especially for any who had a hard time

        finding even the company and love of Jesus

    and who may have wondered if they, too,

        could find no room at the inn...

 

And I pray for anyone whose Christmas was wanting 

    because I failed to be there with them and for them.

 It's not too late, Lord - Christmas has 12 days,

    days for me to reach out, visit, write or call

        to offer the gift of my love, 

        any joy my company might bring

        and a Christmas word of peace, of joy,

            of the grace your birth has brought for all...

Amen.

     

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