We Are Seeking Christmas

A close-up of a shepherd figurine from a nativity creche, with a sheep draped over his shoulder. In the background, another figure is visible.

O God, who moves among the stars of the cold clear sky,
whose voice whispers in the silence of falling snow,
whose silence stills our hearts and leaves us wondering and waiting.

Lord, We are seeking Christmas,
searching in this season
for a hidden door to a forgotten room in the house of our very being,
where we can live the lives we meant to live.

We are searching for Christmas,
seeking in this season
to be finally persuaded
that hope is not just a good idea, and that love is not naïve, and that faith is not just the brave face we put on a hopeless situation.

Lord, the fear of all the world is that you have left us alone here,
and that this here-and-now world is all there is or could ever be.

Lord, the hope of our age is that You have, indeed, met us where we are,
at an inn at the end of world, that we might have assurance,
you have lifted a lantern to light our path, so we may follow your footsteps through the snows.

Grant us a measure of your Christmas peace;
fill us, each, with hope and good cheer;
and grant that each one be surrounded by those by whom they are loved,
and that there, in the joyous tumult of this season, we pray that You speak,
a word of encouragement and grace to every human heart.