As I read this Iona Christmas prayer, I reflected on both Josefina as hidden and her captors and how badly they need to hear the good news. I also thought of the joy the children at St. Thomas brought us through their sharing the good news during the Christmas pageant. May the mission work of St. Thomas in 2011 continue to celebrate the good news and look for God in hidden places.
God of good news,
today you begin again to reshape our lives and communities.
You do not start from the outside,but from within.
You begin in the hidden place.
Behind the inn.Before the marriage.At the wrong time.
You invite a handful of guests into your company.
Shepherds.Local children perhaps.Maybe some animals.
You join the community of the invisible ones.
The homeless and hopeless.Refugees,fleeing a tyrant king.
Later,you find fisherfolk.And a tax collector.More children.
The small.The unimportant.The forgotten.The frightened.
These are the people you choose,
as little by little you start sharing
the secrets of a kingdom that will change the whole world.
From within.From the hidden place.
God of good news:
as we celebrate worldwide the tidings of your birth,
as we set the heavens echoing with angel songs,
as we contemplate new year and pray for peace on earth…
remind us of the hidden places,of the forgotten people,
of the starting-points and the time it takes,
of the pace of the slowest and the dreams of the children
and the human scale and the soul of our towns
and the freedom to create secret dens.
Remind us that the great joy promised to the whole people
starts with those who need it most,in places where they hide.
Remind us,with all our seasonal cheer and tinsel,
that some people are left out in the cold;
that it is there,with them,that you are being born into the world again;
that it is there,through them,that you will change the world.
God of good news,
help us to find you again
in the hidden place.
Amen
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