The Deacon calls the People to prayer saying
A sign has been given to us. A child shall be born for us and wrapped in bands of cloth and laid in a manger. Let us gather in one spirit as we pray to you, O Lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. Intercessor: Caring for another person means kindness in touch, and tenderness in words, to surrender our own needs and wants as we attend to the other. And when we’re holding and caring for another, we can’t do much else. And when you tend to a little child, you have to put it all down in order to pick up the baby. Gracious God, we’re busy, we tired, we’re full of pressure, and worries, and yet you call us, like Mary and Joseph, to kneel down and pick up the baby, and so, we pray you, O lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. Intercessor: Even if you’re a toddler yourself; even if you’re a preteen; even if you’re 95; even if you’ve never remembered ever holding a baby; even if you know nothing about birthin’ babies; you’ll still have some idea as your gaze on something so helpless, that first things are first, and when something is fighting for its life, you’ve got to stop what you are doing and so, we pray you, O lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. Intercessor: Even if we can’t, or won’t or will never want to have a baby, we sometimes need to know that Jesus is the only thing we need to hold on to. Even when we don’t know what else to do, we pray you, O lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. Even when there is nothing else we can do, we pray to you O Lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. It’s just true. When you’re holding a baby, there’s not much else you can do . . . except just hold it, and love it, and pray. And honestly, the baby can’t do all that much either, we pray you, O Lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. The two of you just sort of . . . melt into one another. You just sort of . . . exist . . . together. we pray you, O Lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. I don’t know what it is you came to church for here today, Why you’re here or how easy or hard it was to come here, we pray you, O Lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. Whether you know it or not, you have come here for one thing, and one thing only. You have come here to hold the Baby. we pray you, O Lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. Whether you know it or not he is the One who has brought you here and really, there is nothing else you can do. You just hold him. And love him, And pray. We pray you, O Lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. But be forewarned, for this comes at great cost. To hold this Baby— this Jesus whom we proclaim - means you are going to have to put some things down. We pray you, O Lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. When you hold this Baby, nothing else matters. Everything else falls away. We pray you, O Lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. When you hold this Baby, the war makers must put down their weapons and all their garments rolled in blood. The oppressors must put down their rods. The emperors must put down their censuses. The shepherds must put down their staffs. We pray you, O Lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. The judges must put down their gavels. The bankers their pencils. The farmers their plows. The nurses their stethoscopes The journalists their laptops. The teachers their books. The janitors their brooms. The interns their clipboards. The internet trolls their keyboards. The leaders their egos. Priests and Bishops their collars We pray you, O Lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. When you and I hold this Baby— when we hold this Jesus— everything else must fall away: our cell phones, our distractions, our ambitions, our rights, our wrongs, our hurts, our grievances . . . our power. We pray you, O Lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. “Whatever that is you’re doin,’ you gotta put it down and come hold this baby.” But here’s the final twist. Here’s the insane grace of it all. For all that you and I have to lay aside— for all the power that we have to let go in order to hold this Baby— the thing is he has already gone first. Yeah, you have to give up a lot in order to hold a baby, but think of how much more you have to give up in order to BE the baby. We pray you, O Lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. He could have come any way he wanted. As a mighty warrior. As a fearsome beast. As a rich king with swagger, and prestige, and power. But instead, this Baby— this Jesus— came like this. We pray you, O Lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. Whatever it was he was doing, he put it down all those years ago so he could come and rest right there next to your beating heart. We pray you, O Lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. So, my friends, what is it? What is it that you get to lay aside, even if just for this one moment? The Creator of your soul has put down everything he had, because all he ever really wanted . . . was just to be with you. We pray you, O Lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. So whatever that is you’re doing, put it down. Come on. Hold the baby. There’s nothing else you can do. You just hold him. And love him. And pray. We pray you, O Lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. And when you do, when put everything down, and hold and love and pray and melt together, You get to become the Christ to others. Let us find the Christ Child in all God’s children who have no one to hold them, Let us hand over the wounds of loneliness and desperation within our own hearts we hide from others and even ourselves, Let us allow ourselves to be held who have the memory of wrong etched on our bodies and in our minds. Let us find the Christ Child in this planet in crisis and reach out, and hold, love, and pray. We pray you, O Lord, People Help us put it all down and pick up the baby. Adapted from a sermon of Lonnie Lacy+ by Philip Car-Jones+ Comments are closed.
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