Thank you Jesus for the season of Advent. This year help us to focus our attention all the more on you – Emmanuel, God with us.
Help us to remember that the first Christmas did not include tinsel and trees, there was no Christmas shopping and over eating, no trying to do the rounds of visiting everyone and ending up with a pile of unwanted gifts.
Instead it was a quiet night for a young couple far away from their family, welcoming their baby son into a humble stable. Their visitors were strange shepherds and foreign kings. And yet the stars shone brighter than ever. Angels declared the glory of God. And Jesus “became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood.” (John1:14 MSG).
Forgive us Lord for turning Christmas into festivities that forget who you are. Draw us back to the reality of your Incarnation. Show us how to celebrate Advent and Christmas this year with deeper peace, increasing love and greater joy than ever before in spite of, and perhaps because of, this season of pandemic.
Amen
