A Congregational Prayer, January 6, 2008
Offered by Rev. Vincent A. Fasano
Gentle One, Holy One
We give thanks for your providence
in bringing us together to worship.
We offer our praises:
-for the good gift of life,
-for the transformation of our lives,
-for the invitation to seek you.
In your presence we become more aware
of our selves, seeing more clearly how far we fall
from the gift of our humanity.
Created to be good, we are prone to be less.
But you search and you know us.
You alone know how often we have sinned
in wandering from your
ways,
in wasting your gifts, in
forgetting your love.
Lord have mercy upon us. Pray forgive us our sins.
And help us to walk in your ways
and to live anew in the light of Jesus.
All praise to you, O God,
for the mighty gift of Jesus, your son – Emmanuel -
God promised and God with us.
Because of you, Emmanuel,
stars shine in our lives
and our poor manger places become holy.
Emmanuel -
You are here yet we must continue to look.
You are here, in us, so we must continue to search,
to listen to the stars,
to celebrate your hidden presence.
All thanks to you Emmanuel, for taking on our humanity,
that we might become more human for knowing you,
shaped more and more into the likeness of your
goodness.
Emmanuel: as you took form in the flesh,
-so unite each of us to your flesh,
that we too might live for others:
-supporting those weak in
body;
-upholding those of
saddened spirit;
-feeding those who bodies
lack nourishment;
-building sanctuaries for
families;
-protecting those
battered by the malevolent;
-providing shelter for
the homeless;
-encouraging those whose
hearts are fearful.
Thank you Emmanuel, for revealing
your self through the lowly and broken ones:
-that we might find mercy in our struggles;
-courage in our rough places and crooked paths;
-even in the shadow of death.
For all our yearnings, all our seeking
all our wanderings come
home to you.
All our grief and all our delights find a place in your
stable,
and at your table..
O Christ, light made manifest as the true light of God:
Gladden our hearts on the joyful morning of your glory.
Call us by our name on the great day of your coming.
And give us grace to offer - with all the hosts of heaven -
unending praise to the Father,
in whom all things find their source
and their return.
For it is in your name we pray. Amen
