Christmas 2019

This is a tribute to the annual jazz service at St Marks Darling Point on the eve of every Christmas. In fact, it is one of my favourite services if not the favourite (although our beer and carols service in the lead up to Christmas comes close for those who may not like carols as much as beer, myself included). After this year's jazz service, a few kind individuals approached just to compliment the prayers on that night. It is fascinating to find that a new approach to prayer writing can produce quite an interesting effect. Instead of drawing on the passion for current affairs and good cause which affect us and our world daily, I decided to switch off the news and switch on some spirit. With more focus on the message of Christmas, the prayers stayed closer to the scripture and truer to the gospel (and for the first time, further away from contemporary events of this world in a very different style).

A beautiful lady from that night said it was "the most comprehensive and beautiful prayer" she has "ever heard", and I remember myself being lost in a memorable image of her silhouette as she departs, her beautiful brunette hair against the backdrop of the night with moonlight washing upon herself and her baby in her hands (and our church cat following them closely to be part of that magical moment) forever imprinted on my mind. Guess we find and see beauty in different ways.

So here you go, a copy of the prayers, in tribute to a blue night with thanks to our professional bands who jammed away in jazz and stopped time in our own moments.

P.s. And as a reminder in post scriptum, "Christmas" is short for "Christ's mass", recorded in Middle English as Crīstesmæsse and in Old English as Cristes-messe. Crīst is from the Greek word of Khrīstos (Χριστός), a translation of the Hebrew word Māšîaḥ (מָשִׁיחַ), meaning "anointed" and mæsse is from the Latin word missa, the celebration of the Eucharist, the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion. I once thought "Xmas" is a modern bastardisation of the word "Christmas" as we have strayed so far away from the true meaning of the gospel in our modern concoction of seasonal silliness, but turns out "X" was regularly used to represent the first letter of the Greek word for Christ and popular during Roman times. Who are we to judge. Only human moments will bring out in us so much love in whatever shape or form as we live and learn, in glory to God.

In response to Luke 2:1–14 and Titus 3:1–7 and the sermon available at: https://stmarksdp.org/sermons/.  

"Dearest Heavenly Father

Tonight, we celebrate the reality of your presence in our lives. Thank you for reminding us the true meaning of Christmas against the backdrop, in our age, of convenience, commercialisation and broken connections. As you unite us in this moment, we celebrate your birth, your life and what you lead us towards through your death and resurrection with joy and peace in our hearts. May we be awed by the miracle of your life, be filled with the faith of Mary, be encouraged by the obedience of Joseph, be inspired by the change in the shepherds to trust and follow, be challenged by the wisdom of the magi, be lifted by the joy of the angels to rejoice and be forever grateful to you for your most humble birth into our world.

Our world at this temporal point, in history as shown through the passage of time, and no doubt in the time to come, is far from perfect, because of what we do and what we are prone to do. We are frail, flawed and fragile. But God, thank you for reminding us to place our trust and to have faith in your glorious creation and careful order for this world and the life eternal, in both the good times and the bad times. Father, please continue to work in us and help us understand our role and our place in this world and be guided by your loving will that is both personal and sovereign. Show us and help us to show your boundless love, grace and mercy with thanks giving in our hearts. Please work in our lives as we can be foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by the passions and pleasures of this world, yes, even the best of us. God, protect us from this world that is sometimes filled with envy, malice and hatred. It is this earthly world that you have sent your only son to walk amongst us and to walk with us, and to show us the grace and generosity of a saviour through human hardships when you are God of the impossible. 

So our Lord, Jesus Christ, the light of this world, as we celebrate your birth, may we see this world in the light of understanding that you give us. May you guide us as we’ve read tonight, to be obedient and ready for good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarrelling, to be gentle and to show every courtesy to everyone. As you choose the lowly outcast and the poor to receive the greatest news of our world, may we remember those less fortunate in this season. We pray for your blessings to all people and may there be bread for the hungry, love for the broken, healing for the sick and the elderly, protection for the weak, wisdom for our youth, courage for our fire fighters, more rain for this drought and more miracles for this world. We pray for your forgiveness, for our growth in faith and for the abundant life in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

May you fill our hearts with your love, power and the Holy Spirit. Amen."

Giving this for free with no assertion of moral rights (including copyright) so feel free to infringe away.