A Birth and a Rebirth

As we get closer to Christmas I share with you this prayer from the Iona Community, an ecumenical Christian Community of men and women from different Christian traditions and from different walks of life.  We used it for our retreat on Evolutionary Spirituality and also for our Employee Christmas Prayer.  It touches my heart deeply.

When the world was dark

and the city was quiet,

you came.

You crept in beside us.

And no one knew.

Only the few

who dared to believe

that God might do something different.

Will you do the same this Christmas, Lord?

Will you come into the darkness of tonight/today's world;

not the friendly darkness

as when sleep rescues us from tiredness,

but the fearful darkness,

in which people have stopped believing

that war will end

or that food will come

or that a government will change

or that the Church cares?

Will you come into that darkness

and do something different

to save your people from death and despair?

Will you come into the quietness of this city/town,

not the friendly quietness

as when lovers hold hands,

but the fearful silence when

the phone has not rung,

the letter has not come,

the friendly voice no longer speaks,

the doctor's face says it all?

Will you come into that darkness,

and do something different,

not to distract, but to embrace your people?

And will you come into the dark corners

and the quiet places of our lives?

We ask this not because we are guilt-ridden

or want to be,

but because the fullness of our lives long for

depends on us being as open and vulnerable to you

as you were to us

when you came,

wearing no more than diapers,

and trusting human hands

to hold their maker.

Will you come into our lives,

if we open them to you

and do something different?

When the world was dark

and the city was quiet

you came.

You crept in beside us.

Do the same this Christmas, Lord.

Do the same this Christmas.

Amen. 

What are your prayers, hopes, and dreams this Christmas?  In what way might Christ creep in beside you?  Today a friend sent me this You-Tube link and I was touched by the ordinary humans who present their dreams and hopes for a new and more loving humanity.  As we end the Mayan calendar when many focus on the world ending there are also many others who  believe this is a time of transition, a new birth, to a higher humanity where we join together  to co-create with God a world of peace, unity and love.  Science has taught us that our thoughts in many ways create our reality.  Scripture tells us "where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am" (Matthew 18:20).  Let us unite our thoughts, our hopes, our dreams with those of our brothers and sisters throughout the world who choose to co-create with God a better world.  Together we can create an energy field of love by our thoughts and it can transform our world.  I invite you to look at the You-Tube link and look into the faces and the words of our brothers and sisters, ordinary people like you and I and ask yourself what your prayers, hopes, and dreams are this Christmas?

Agents of Creation

Will you come into our lives, if we open them to you and do something different?  When the world was dark and the city was quiet you came, You crept in beside us.  Do the same this Christmas Lord.  Do the same this Christmas.