The Beauty of Grace (A Christmas Prayer)

Father,

Christmas puts Your grace front and center.

We see the humility of it in how quietly it came,
in the simple, plain, and common way Jesus entered the world.
That His birth was announced to a few of the least of Your people
and to a few foreigners.
That was all the attention You drew to Your Son.

We see the generosity of it,
in that in giving Him to us, You gave the best of heaven.
That you gave all that there is to give.

We see the freedom of it,
in that Mary was a virgin.
The gift could only be given if You chose to give it.

We see the joy of it in the heavens opening up and proclaiming Your joy in giving us the Gift of Gifts.

We see the intimacy of it,
in that the gift was Yourself.
The Giver was the Gift.
That You became one with Your creation
and became a human being so that we could experience Your love in the most direct and personal way.

We see the power of it,
in that while Jesus came into the world so weak
and came into a world that hated Him,
that wanted nothing to do with Him,
that no power that exists in this world in heaven above or on the earth or beneath the earth could sever that cord of grace.

How utterly amazing, wonderful, marvelous, and beautiful is your grace! A grace that saves people like me, who are lost without it.

Yet Christmas is not always a time of joy.
For some the joy of Christmas is mixed with the bitterness of loss,
and the ache of loneliness.
Some feel too broken,
too sick,
too frustrated,
too disappointed,
too hurt to fully enjoy the joy of Christmas.

Father, it is in circumstances like these,
when we come face to face with the fact that we are not enough,
that we need the comfort of Your grace the most.
Grace is the warm light that is needed in these cold dark places.
May Your Spirit shine that grace in their hearts and minds.
May we carry that grace to them as we comfort, console, and minister to them in this time.

Thank You for grace that is not only content to save,
but to heal,
sustain,
carry,
and bring to completion the work that You have begun in us.