Monday, December 19, 2011

Dear God,

"Now I know why we celebrate Christmas every year!"  I told my husband after the Handel's Messiah concert.  "Now I know."  We live the scriptures.  We put human faces to the story of faith.  We live the presence of Christ in the world.  

When I consider the world, the creation of our own making, I realize once again the dullness of our faith, the lifelessness of Christian belief and practice, and our living at shallow levels.  I see how we have taken the gifts of eternity and reshaped them into whatever we want in order to live the way we want to live.  We have been successful in cheating ourselves of the awe and wonder of faith.  We have given in to cheap substitutes and those have threatened the backbone of all that is beautiful.

But at Christmas time you draw our minds back to the originator of our being.  We cannot denounce the birth and resurrection of a redeemer.  We may want to but the world around us will not allow us.  Although retail stores are in it for the money, they force us to remember that a birth happened, a baby came bringing faith to a faithless world.  We cannot erase angels who called out or shepherds who ran to see or wise men who were compelled to bring gifts.  We cannot stop the song that begs to be sung all year long.  At Christmas you whisper, "I am here like I told you I would be."

Come, Lord Jesus, come
into our darkness
and bring
your light
once again.
Shine upon us
and let
your light penetrate
every dark place
within us.
Remove all obstacles
and create space
for you.
Bring us
to life
so we
may join you
in radiating
your light
and singing
your song
for all eternity.
This is
my prayer.

Love, Andrea