Merry Christmas! The wait is over; Jesus is born!
Merry Christmas! The wait is over; Jesus is born!
Christmas Day, The One and Only Son.
Merry Christmas, friends.
We've treasured journeying alongside you during this season of Advent.
We've waited together, looking to God our Father, the giver of every good gift.
We've remembered God's promise to send the Messiah and trace that promise throughout the pages of scripture.
We've set our hope on God, the anchor for our souls in both calm and stormy seas.
And we've responded in faith through prayer and conversation and actions that demonstrate our love for God, our neighbors, and the world.
And now, the wait is over.
God's promises fulfilled.
Our hope is here.
Jesus is born.
Merry Christmas.
As we go about this day, this glorious, beautiful day, may we consider merry.
As the shepherds left her and Joseph and the newborn lying in a manger, she collected the shepherds' words and stored them in her heart.
And so we pray, oh, Jesus.
Gift of gifts.
Help us to slow down and ponder the gifts of this day, beginning with you, the one who enriches all other gifts.
May each gift received and given enhance our enjoyment of our greatest gift, you, Jesus.
You became God with us, that we might be like you and dwell with you forever.
Thank you.
However we celebrate this day, may we be like Simeon and Anna.
They expected God to fulfill his promise to send the Messiah, and they beheld his strange, yet perfect answer, the baby Jesus, the Son of God, and Son of Man, born to set all men and women free.
And so we pray, oh, Jesus, wonder of wonders.
Teach us to cherish your promises and to eagerly anticipate their fulfillment.
May the food we enjoy today remind us of the feast to come, the day when we see you face to face and experience the fullness of joy.
Amen.
As this day races, or maybe drags towards its conclusion, may we be watchful, like the shepherds and the wise men.
They look to the skies and they witness God's glory and the stars and in his messengers the angels.
And so we pray, oh, Jesus, teach us to be attentive, to hope in you, the one who endures forever.
Your faithful love extends beyond the skies, your steadfastness beneath the depths.
No matter what this day holds for us, may you hold us.
You are our comfort of comforts, and in you we find our rest.
Oh, Merry Christmas, beloved friends, remember that for God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
And so we pray, Lord Jesus, happy birthday.
We love you because you first loved us.
Thank you for fulfilling the promise.
Thank you for coming to Earth as a baby to set us free.
You are our living hope.
You are God with us, both now and forevermore.
Amen.