Prayers of the People: The Beginning ~ 1st Sunday after Christmas '21 Yr C

For Sunday, December 26, 2021; Readings: Isaiah 61:10-62:3, Ps 147, Galatians, 3:23-25, 4:4-7; John 1:1-18

     For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations…I will not keep silent…I will not rest…until the nations see Your vindication. [Isaiah 61:11, 62:1a, 2a]

          Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises to our God!...He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds…The Lord lifts the lowly, but casts the wicked to the ground...Worship the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion… [Psalm 147:1a, 3, 6, 13]

     God sent his Son, born of a woman…so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying, "Abba, Father!"  So you are no longer a slave but a child…then also an heir through God. [Galatians 4:4b-7]

          In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God...What has come into being was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it...And the Word became flesh and lived among us...From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. [John 1:1-2, 3b-5,14a, 16]

      Still in the thrall of Christmas, which was only yesterday, we are on the cusp of the end of one year and beginning of another. The music, lights, the food, and the now unwrapped presents are all still claiming our senses though perhaps our attention is slightly on the wane. We’re not quite out of the holiday mood even if all the necessities of action in daily life are creeping in. Yet there is time enough to breathe deeply and inhale the air still electric with excitement for the Sacred and Holy Infant's birth and the high expectations for the coming of a New Year. We fill our lungs and it disperses throughout our own life’s blood. Let us exhale the doubts and fears of uncertain faith, and inhale deeply again to set our course for a new start, a new birth in ourselves, an awakening, a fresh awareness of the presence Christ within us and all of those around us.
     For some of us, it is an important moment to breathe in the hope for those who are no longer in this life, and with whom our mutual love will live forever, that their journey is fulfilled as promised, as they live again in a joyous eternity.
     John tells us in today’s Gospel that Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. As the Spirit of Jesus lives in our hearts by God's gift, let us radiate that light from within by being the change we want to find in others and living into our faith through daily prayer-filled practice and action. Let us live into and out of what we say we believe through the grace upon grace received from the Incarnation of Jesus, our Christ, the Word made flesh who lived among us. And, may this be our first Resolution of the New Year: Begin at the Beginning and follow the Light. As John says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jesus, our Redeemer Christ, let us begin again with You. 
 
LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY
 
Leader:  ~ Abba! Lord! You have revealed all life through Christ who was born of a woman to redeem us as Your children, Your heirs. Grant us the faith and courage to live every day in wisdom and in strength, through the Spirit of Christ that You have sent into each of our hearts.
 
                                                        Jesus, God’s Holy Word             
        RESPONSE:                    Center our hearts and minds on You
 
~ Abba! Lord! Keep us from rest and silence in seeking Your righteousness and peace among all nations and all leaders, everywhere. Activate the changes to spring up in ourselves that we seek in others, through our faith-filled daily prayers, thoughts, and actions. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
 
                                                       Jesus, God’s Holy Word
                                                       Center our hearts and minds on You
 
~ Abba! Lord! Lift the lowly from their distress and bind up the wounds of all hurting bodies and souls as you renew the energy of all who give care and support. We now join our voices to pray aloud for those in need… add your own petitions
 
                                                       Jesus, God’s Holy Word
                                                       Center our hearts and minds on You
 
~ Abba! Lord! Heal the hearts broken by grief as those we love are alive again, swathed in the glory and rejoicing of the exquisite bliss of Eternity. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
 
                                                       Jesus, God’s Holy Word
                                                       Center our hearts and minds on You
 
~ Abba! Lord! We pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials, aloud or silently… add your own petitions
 
                                                       Jesus, God’s Holy Word
                                                       Center our hearts and minds on You
             
~ Abba! Lord! May Your Holy Spark forever blaze through the souls of those anointed to lead us on our journey toward everlasting redemption through Christ. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
 
                                                       Jesus, God’s Holy Word
                                                       Center our hearts and minds on You
             
The Celebrant adds: Jesus, God’s Ever-Present Glory and Truth, You came as God’s flesh and blood among us in Your humanity; in Your divinity, You are our grace upon grace. As You have clothed us in the garments of Salvation, guide us to be Your Light in our world that the darkness of evil cannot overcome. We ask through God, our Divine Creator; who together with You and the Holy Spirit, the ever-Flowing Fire of our souls; are One God, now and forever. Amen. 

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