Australian Christmas Litany

It is summer in Australia.
Christ is born!

The early dawn proclaims that
the light of the world has come.
Praise to you God of light!

God’s love is born upon earth
with the glorious passion of the summer sun.
Praise to you God of love!

With mountain and valley,
blackwood and wattlebird,
tree fern and rosella,
we sing for joy
as God comes to dwell
in the heart of creation.
Praise to you God of life!

Today, dear God, the starlight of your love
shines like the Milky Way
in the desert darkness;
for today you are cradled
in this place as a humble child.
Praise to you God of promise fulfilled!

Ian Ferguson, offered for worship, 29/12/19, Christmas 1A

Prayers of Confession

Hold in our hearts what is broken in our world.
Hold around that brokenness the healing presence of Emmanuel, God with us.

silence

Emmanuel, God with us,
you give us the vision of a renewed world
and empower us to live it into being.
Forgive our failure to follow your way of love,
or to see your presence in the last and the least.
Forgive us when we have kept your gift of life
to ourselves rather than sharing it,
or have misused power
to control rather than liberate.
Shine the light of your healing love
and release us from guilt and fear
that we may live with freedom and faith
for the sake of the world you love so much.

Amen

Sisters and brothers,
Christ Jesus, Emmanuel, was born of Mary
to set us free to love.
Hear the good news: our sin is forgiven.
Thanks be to God.

Ian Ferguson, offered for worship, 29/12/19, Christmas 1A

Prayers of the people

A refugees Dream

Close your eyes

Dear God..  Let us imagine your Universe and cosmos  so vast, the setting in motion of great events that change the millennia, movements of land, continents,  weather, water, wind & fire, stars & planets…….

Let us imagine the adding of people, yearning, movement & power,  each of us in  our way trying to know You, the Divine within  …

Imagine now, Gods compassions in  absence-  the small ones are pushed from the predictable to the terrifying, feeling  safe for a moment, a touch of love in  a stable, in a residence…..Then a rumour, a message, a bureaucratic edict,   an instinct, a desperate asking, borrowing time, fleeing to save a life … grappling with guilt as others are slaughtered- …..we can but save ourselves. It becomes fight or flight …… seeking refuge.. somewhere……

…….Jesus you know this experience, have lived it, the trauma &  terror of your parents, the long dusty hot & cold road. Mary you know this as a teenager, no women to comfort your labour, sore & confused from birth.  Joseph listening, heeding, open dreaming yet worried…

Let us imagine…, each of these divine small ones & those very few, amongst us here in our community, now who have found some refuge ….. Those  in our world still knowing and feeling the fear and not belonging, still seeking in harrowing places, we pray for them.

Just as Joseph was given a dream of hope, God give each of these small ones a dream, those running, starving, beaten and witnessing the killing, a dream to know your strange & loving warning, your hand reached out ……… Because each one is a divine cosmos, each one worthy of a dream of Love. Help us, as the Church, to be open to the faith of those possible dreams, and to be part of the plan to  fulfil those dreams.

God, Give each of us, in the safety of  the Church & society, a Divine inspired dream to move and reach out, to embrace those on the run, to offer  help & imagine how to offer compassion, practical support,  to give of our time, our money, our political actions to those fleeing and arrived.

Jesus we know you are aching with us, for us and in us. Help us to know that you have experienced all of humanities pain and we pray for the Divines love & a dream for us all.

In Jesus name we pray…. Amen

Jenne Perlstein, offered for worship 29/12/19, Christmas 1A