May the light that shone over Bethlehem pierce through our darkness and show us the path of Love.

May the anthem of peace thundered by the heavenly choirs guide us, not towards the passive expediencies of peace-keeping, but the active, difficult work of peace-making.

May the joy of Simeon and Anna upon seeing the Promised Child remind us that everyone was once a child, and in the face of each child, no matter what color or creed, we can find the joy of God.

May the humility of the Magi, bending before a child born of poverty and obscurity, teach us to listen humbly to the stories of the poor, the outcast, the despised, and forgotten of our own generation.

May the Love that embodied itself in human flesh, entering the body of a woman to be carried and birthed as a baby, teach us that the spiritual life is also an embodied one– there is no separation between the Divine and our every-day, ordinary lives.

May the hope of Christmas– which is the hope of the ultimate end to suffering and evil and death– help sustain us through the whatever challenges and griefs await us in the coming year.

May the Embodied Love who ate and drank and laughed and wept, who healed and taught and fed and told stories, who welcomed little children and challenged the powerful and told us that God loves the world, give us courage and grace to meet everyone we encounter with love.

It is Love Who is changing the world. May we be the hands and feet of Love.

Amen.