In violence and travail

We give you thanks for the babe born in violence.

We give you thanks for the miracle of Bethlehem, born into the Jerusalem heritage.

We do not understand why the innocents must be slaughtered; we know that your kingdom comes in violence and travail.  Our time would be a good time for your kingdom to come, because we have had enough of violence and travail.

So we wait with eager longing, and with enourmous fear, because your promises do not coincide with our favorite injustices.

We pray for the coming of your kingdom on earth as it is around your heavenly throne.

We are a people grown weary of waiting.

We dwell in the midst of cynical people, and we have settled for what we can control.

We do know that you hold the initiative for our lives, that your love planned our salvation before we saw the light of day.

And so we wait for your coming, in your vulnerable baby in whom all things are made new.

Amen.

Walter Brueggemann, Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003, p. 149.

Merry Christmas, everyone.  Christ is born!