Prayer Column - December 2021

Is it tomorrow yet?

Advent, and the church calendar countdown to Christmas 2021 is on. Some say, with a knowing tolerance, “Christmas is for the children”, ie, let them enjoy it while they still believe. And certainly childish excitement mounts as decorations appear in shops and streets and homes, and the air is filled with carols and stories about baby Jesus, donkeys, stables, innkeepers, angels and shepherds. A wonderland, crowned on the day by family gatherings, stockings and presents under the tree. Waiting!

But Jesus said emphatically that we can only enter the kingdom of God if we receive it like a child (Lk 18:17), so Christmas really is for the children. We adults have to abandon superior attitudes and enter afresh the world of wonder with childlike eyes: accepting the Bible stories as true. God really did come to earth as a baby, born of Mary, cared for by Joseph, long-foretold by the prophets of old. And we are right to celebrate, marvelling at all God does, and looking forward in trust to the new world he promises when Jesus comes again to complete his saving work.

But how can we ready ourselves, when we can’t know when it will be? Answer: by active anticipation. There is to be new life then: so live it out now – with Christian virtues of love, joy, peace, self-control and all the rest. There is to be universal harmony: so strive for inner integrity, with truth as our guide. Practice makes perfect, and we’re not there yet: so draw close to God and simply ask for the help we need, accepting with childlike open hearts and hands all the rich gifts he so generously gives.

Roy Lorrain-Smith

A prayer for each week

Father God, thank you for Christmas and Jesus, and thank you also for the written records. Please help us take it all in, and celebrate as we should. Amen.

Saving God, loving the world too much to leave it alone but sending Jesus to the rescue. Please open us to his living word, doing what he tells us. Amen.

Mysterious God, doing what seems impossible to our earthbound eyes, please help us believe all you say, and let it affect the whole way we live. Amen.

Steadfast God, keeping your word however detailed and personal or even cosmic in scope, may we each trust and obey, and find happiness in Jesus. Amen.

Your own prayers