Holy and Loving God, you chose to take our human flesh as a feeble newborn in Bethlehem long ago. You lived as Glad Tidings in our midst in outlying town of Bethlehem in Palestine and fled to Egypt far away from the seat of power of the empire of the mighty and proud. We praise you for your coming again and again with your promises of hope, joy, love and peace to your people everywhere and our own {Gore} community. This holy night, come Emmanuel to give birth to justice where it is delayed or denied, give birth to hope for those who perish in despair, give birth to energy and strength to those who fade away in ill-health, hunger and thirst in our global community. We pray that you be born extra again in our hearts and in our world so that we may offer new freedom and new future for all in this holy season of our jubilant gatherings to give you thanks for Jesus, our Savior; Amen.
(The Rev. Dr. John T. Mathew, St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gore, New Zealand)
