Week of December 23, 2025
Rev. Tim Best
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Holy are you, God of presence and love,
You have made your love most fully known in and through Jesus Christ. As Christmas Eve settles around us, grant to each person your peace.
Calm the heart of every child. To those full of energy and joy, settle their spirits so they may rest. We praise you for their confidence in the love of family and friends. We are thankful for those children who will wake up in just a few hours, much earlier than normal, to find all the things the wished for. Help them to know that love is much more than packages and presents, yet help them to celebrate and give thanks for abundant blessings.
Grant your calming Spirit likewise to the anxious child, the one who goes to sleep hoping, longing, desiring items that might not arrive. May every child go to sleep tonight confident that they are loved, valued, and cared for. Where there are those in desperate need, move us to diligently work to proclaim your love and care through deed and action. May parents and caregivers who cannot give what is wished for, but have labored to provide what is needed, rest in the knowledge that those are the gifts that show a child love the most.
On this night that we celebrate the birth of our Lord, we pray for peace throughout the earth. We look with hope for that day when all war and violence will end and all shall know Christ’s peace. We pray for those who serve as soldiers, sailors, police, firefighters, and all emergency workers. Keep them safe, so that they may join their loved ones later to celebrate and rest.
Pour out your love upon those who are alone, those who are suffering, hospitalized, or ill. Open our hearts and transform us that we might offer friendship, community, care, compassion, and support to all we encounter. On this Christmas Eve, renew our commitment to your gospel, to the way of Christ, and to one another.
With hope in our hearts, and with a boldness of spirit we lift all that troubles us to your care. We rejoice in the good news that you are with us, that through Christ you have demonstrated your determination to be with us always. With trust in your love for us we share these needs of our church family:
We pray for ….
- Children everywhere.
- Friends and family who have needs; prayers for peace and wellbeing.
- All those for whom the holidays are difficult because of grief, loss, or heartache …
- Those who are in hospital over Christmas
- A member transitioning from hospital to rehab; may she feel Christmas love.
- A family with young children who are without a father after a tragedy.
- Those who are grieving after miscarriage.
- For those who feel that evil is lurking in family relationships; bring wholeness.
- For loved ones who are traveling.
We continue to pray for …
- All of our homeless neighbors
- A couple hoping for pregnancy
- A member and her sister as they continue to make decisions for their mother
- A sister recovering from open heart surgery
- A colleague was recently diagnosed with lung cancer; she was pregnant and had to deliver early. Prayers for her and baby boy
- Those members who are waiting on test results or waiting for appointments with doctors; may they feel your peace and patience as they wait.
We give thanks for ….
- A clear MRI! No sign of tumor!
- The birth of a healthy granddaughter
- How well our grandson is doing this first year of life after so many surgeries!
- A nephew who has been serving out of the country for five months is now stateside.
With trust in Christ’s love for us, we join together in the prayer that he taught us, praying, Our Father….
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be 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 trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.
Amen.
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