Musings From The Methodist Manse

A prayer for Christmas

What is the gift I pray for most this year?

What would I like to find beneath the Christmas tree?

God, it isn't the latest this, or the most fashionable that.

I don't want a gadget, or a gimmick,

or anything that might be found in a catalogue or department store.

I'm not looking for the "in" thing or even the most "way out".

The gift which I have set my heart cannot be bought with money,

but it is priceless and precious,

valuable and vulnerable.

The gift which I wish for,

hope for,

long for,

makes a difference.

The unlovely people receive this gift

and know that they are prized beyond measure.

The bent and broken people begin to be mended.

The rich and the selfish are transformed.

The happy want to share their joy.

The lonely find they are not left in isolation.

The clever discover wisdom and the simple discover truth.

All because of the gift.

It cannot be wrapped in fancy paper.

It doesn't fit into any box.

It can be shared by the youngest and the oldest;

and it creates family where there is none.

It is delivered to us, not by Father Christmas,

but by the infant Jesus,

who offers to us the most precious thing from Heaven.

The gift I most desire this Christmas

is not just for me.

It is for you, for all, for ever.

It is the intimate, unchanging love

of an intimate, unchanging God:

who after all,

gave us Christmas.

Have a blessed and peaceful time this Christmas.

Revd Jackie Goddard