Saturday 25th December
Christmas Day
What child is this who laid to rest
On Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet
with anthems sweet
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King
Whom shepherds guard
and angels sing:
Come, greet the infant Lord,
The babe, the son of Mary!
Chatterton Dix
Friday 24th December
Christmas Eve
It was quite an entrance.
The only Son of God
homeless, illegitimate, a refugee
owning nothing
but the world that he grew up in
had made himself quite empty,
His birth a kind of dying where
he abdicated power, omniscience,
was needy, hated and misunderstood.
Two deaths, two births,
the manger and the cross:
The first brought hope,
the second brought salvation.
Out of his poverty,
this child has made us rich
beyond imagination.
Godfrey Rust
Thursday 23rd December
Maybe it is in the waiting for God,
not in the wandering from store to store that we find our way.
Maybe it is in the friendship of God,
not in the frenzy of the crowds
that we are led to the manger.
Maybe, just maybe,
in these last hours of Advent
we will let God lead us to Bethlehem.
Thom M. Shuman
Wednesday 22nd December
The Shepherds
It was done plainly enough.
The night sky was a perfect billboard,
the sound effects were spectacular.
Only a few were awake
and in the right place
at the right time when heaven
unable to contain
its amazement any longer
spilled out momentarily into earth
and explained itself.
The message was as clear as day
but God’s timing was,
as always, surprising
and the show ran
for one performance only.
Godfrey Rust
Tuesday 21st December
Bright God of Advent:
Blaze in our darkness.
Incinerate our iniquity.
Light up our road.
Riddle the ashes
of our desires.
Rekindle in us
your justice and love.
Ruth Burgess
Monday 20th December
In the psalms of David,
in the words of the prophets,
in the dream of Joseph,
your promise is spoken, eternal God,
and takes flesh at last
in the womb of the Virgin.
May Emmanuel find welcome
in our hearts,
take flesh in our lives,
and be for all peoples
the welcome advent
of redemption and grace.
Sunday 19th December
4th Sunday of Advent
Lighting the 4th Advent Candle
God our Father –
The angel Gabriel
told the Virgin Mary
that she was to be
the mother of your Son.
Though Mary was afraid,
she responded to your call with joy.
Help us, whom you call to serve you,
to share like her in your great work
of bringing to our world
your love and healing.
We ask this through Jesus Christ
the Light
who is coming into the world.
Amen.
This sequence of daily readings or prayers for the fourth week of Advent was compiled by Rev Dr Michael Paterson using materials written by him and drawn from a variety of sources. You can download a printable version of the week’s sequence at this link.
