O God, on this holy night,
we celebrate your birth among us as a human child.
We celebrate alongside Mary and Joseph,
who through their everyday work of parenting
became part of your story of salvation.
On the first Christmas, there was no room in the inn.
Protect with your love those in our community who have no home tonight,
who are living under bridges, in abandoned buildings or in hostels.
We pray especially for homeless families with babies,
who bear the fragility of new life in hard and anxious times.
The Messiah came with the sign of a star shining in the night.
Bring light to those who are suffering from sickness,
who endure pain in mind or body,
especially those people who are spending Christmas
in the hospitals in our community.
Jesus was born in a stable, surrounded by the animals,
he came as a Saviour for all creation.
Bring healing and peace to our relationship with the earth.
Renew our sense of the holy,
and give us wisdom to treat the world with respect and care.
The angels came with a message of good news in a troubled time.
We need your good news in the troubled parts of our lives,
with family ties that are strained or broken.
We need your good news in our war-filled world,
We pray especially for ______________________.
We also pray for Bethlehem, for Palestine and Israel,
where high walls of many kinds divide your people.
The shepherds were commissioned to spread tidings of great joy,
a joy that can reach even those sitting in the shadow of death.
At this holiday time, we remember those we love who have died.
We know that in your grace they too are part of this choir of praise.
We join our voices with them and with the hosts of heaven,
in praising you now and forever.
We sang, we sing, we will sing
Alleluia! Christ the Saviour is born! Amen.
I am a Mennonite pastor currently teaching theology at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario. I’ve served congregations in Ontario and most recently, Alberta.