A prayer given at Hope College’s Christmas Vespers service, December 2008 in Holland, MI.
God of Immanuel,
We gather in this hour because long ago you made a promise
to send a Light into our darkness –
This is a promise you kept.
Long ago the world in darkness waited;
stumbling under the cover of night.
Brother fought against brother.
Neighbor raged against neighbor.
Nation warred against other nations.
The darkness grew so thick it allowed
Wicked to triumph;
The hungry to starve;
The orphan to be given no name;
and the widow to be homeless.
The cycles of heaven rotated,
as century bled into century,
as Kingdoms rose and fell,
and their Rulers came and went,
But always, this world in darkness waited for a sign
of your covenant promise.
There were whispers and rumors,
from prophets and priests,
That a day would come
when a great light would shine on us
who live in the land of deep darkness.
These were hushed hopes passed on from
generation to generation.
Then one day. In our time. It happened.
You heard our sighs too deep for words,
And you sent into the darkness the light of a child,
a Son to light up the night.
As the first born of a new humanity,
upon whose shoulders
all authority in heaven and earth rests.
His name is Wonderful,
for he is Everlasting Light
come as a prince,
our mighty God in flesh.
This, the day of your incarnation,
broke our darkness like the dawn.
This incarnation is history’s prime mystery;
its light cannot be grasped
except by the miracle of faith
in the gift of revelation
given from You,
the giver of all gifts
who, as one and the same,
is our Holy Creator.
Oh God, when you sent your light
we did not know how to receive him;
Even when the child grew and said of himself:
“I am the light of the world…”
We did not understand…
We did not comprehend your strategy to defeat the darkness:
We did not know that his flesh was the candle,
and His blood the wick
that, when lit by darkness
on Calvary,
would be the light
giving all humanity new sight.
Forgive us God.
You sent your Light,
you kept your promise,
and we ignored it,
preferring night.
But tonight, we dedicate ourselves anew
to see with clear eyes,
so that we might sing again with renewed joy
as the witnesses to the truth that, in Jesus Christ,
we have seen the eternal flame that burns and is never consumed.
The Light that bends reason.
The reason that shocks logic.
The logic evoking a mystery.
A mystery intoxicating us with wonder,
that unsettles even as it relocates
us in a world where
the impossible has become a possibility,
that you could take our time to put on flesh
and walk among us
To show us the potential of our humanity.
This earth-walk is what inspires us
to give your Word a second look.
The Word that gives spotlight to
one extreme witness:
this child is “the Messiah, the Son of God,
the eternal light come into the World.”
In him is life where there is no darkness at all.
In him is the glory of God
hidden in human flesh
whose transcendence can be seen only
in the immanence of Jesus Christ, born of Mary,
Immanuel, God with us,
Your promise fulfilled.
In this hour, we pause to rededicate our lives in gratitude,
For keeping your promise for us,
by sending to us “True light from True light,”
that pushes us out of the confines of our darkness so
that we might let your light shine into the world
as we pray together the prayer,
the True Light taught us to pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed by thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done.
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors
And deliver us from evil,
For thine is the Kingdom,
And the glory
And the life everlasting.
Amen.
(Header image courtesy of Hope College.)