We have walked in the darkness, Lord,
And, for all that we "have seen a great light"
We still stumble on in our own darkness.

We have rejoiced at the successes of our warriors,
And, for all the "you have broken the yoke that burdened",
We still put our trust in our weapons, and not your grace.

We rejoice again that "a child has been born for us"
And, for all that He offers "justice and righteousness"
We prefer to trivialise and sentimentalise His coming.

We acknowledge His titles "Counsellor, Hero, Prince of Peace"
And for all that he has taught of loving God and neighbour
We still prefer our socio-economic, political ways.

Oh, Eternal Father, help us, by your gracious Holy Spirit
To find in following the "Child born for us"
The way of life for person, community and world.

Your grace, O Lord, was there from before our beginning.
But it did not, could not, dawn on us until that birth.
The promised Messiah who showed hoe to live a life
"Of temperance, honesty and goodness in our present age".

Your grace, O Lord, is here, now in our temporality.
It has, by the indwelling of your Holy Spirit, enabled us
To catch a glimpse of that glorious future hope when
"Our great God and Saviour Christ Jesus will appear".

You, lord, have come into our time
As a tiny piece of living, growing being.

You, Lord, have come into our time
As a refugee without a home.

You, O Lord, have come into our time
With a message for the outcasts of society.

You, O Lord, have come into our time
Ennobling the concepts of family life.

You, O Lord, have come into our time
To lift the life of faith above ritual observance.

You, O Lord, have come into our time,
May we offer 'our time' to you in love.

Your love, O Lord our god, has been
From before the beginning of our 'time'.
Your provision for us is amazing,
A whole 'Creation' to enable
Intelligent life to come to being.

Your love, O Lord our God, has been
Intimately bound into our 'time'.
Your action with us is amazing,
For you have come in Christ
To be as one of us for all of us.

Your love, O Lord our god, continues
In lively action, enabling our 'time'
To be an ongoing opportunity of amazing
Uplifting through the great power
Of your Holy Spirit moving in us.

Verse 1
As we explore your 'heaven' and realise
It's heights we are amazed at the glory of your power

Verse 2
We may not be 'angels', Lord,
But we are part of your 'host' here below.

Verse 3
Help us, Lord, by your presence with us
To be "shining stars" in a dark world.

Verse 4
Help us, Lord, by your presence among us
To offer you our highest praise.

Verse 5
We are part of your creation, Lord,
And we praise you for it's wonder, beauty and power.

Verse 6
By your grace we have read your ordinances
By your grace help us to keep all your law for us.

Verse 7
Help us, Lord, by your presence with us
To keep an Earth from which praise may arise.

Verse 8
Help us, Lord, by your presence among us
To use your powers for our good and your glory.

Verse 9
This Earth, our home, is a sacred trust;
If we care for 'our Earth' , 'our Earth' will support us.

Verse 10
We and they are the family of life on Earth.
As we respect each other so we must respect them.

Verse 11
Regardless of rank, wealth, privilege or their lack
Every one has a part to play.

Verse 12
Regardless of age, experience, naiveté
We, each have something of value to offer.

Verse 13
The praise of our lips, the praise of our minds
The praise of our skills, the praise of our lives.

Verse 14
For God, our God, has revealed such love for us
That we are able, in reality, to be God's partners in creation.

A babe in a manger
A boy under instruction
A fully trained carpenter
A wandering preacher
A challenging teacher
A suffering servant
A crucified saviour
A risen redeemer
This is the lot of the babe in the manger!

Warnings at midnight,
The knock on the door at dawn,
Your infancy, Lord, was
Cursed with these dreads!

Night flight from arrest,
Urgent journeys of fear;
Strangers in a strange land,
You have known all these.

Uncertain returning,
Remaking a living,
Building a home again;
These you have shared.

Entering our life,
Knowing our limitations,
Experiencing humanity;
This is "God with us".

This is great season of rejoicing for us, too. For although these words are aimed at an exiled Israel, they speak powerfully to us. We, justifiably, often see ourselves, the Christians, as the 'new Israel of God'. Thus we see in our incarnate God the real source of our joy, particularly at this season.
However we must be very careful of equating material advantage with religious faith. Whilst there can be no doubt that our Christian faith has helped to unlock our understanding of the creation, nevertheless it is only by observing the disciplines of behaviour that go with such faith that we may realise the blessings that result.

In this season of joy, Lord,
We praise your Holy Name.

For all your blessings on us
We praise your Holy name.

For Jesus our friend and saviour
We praise your Holy Name.

For the indwelling of your Spirit
We praise your Holy Name

For this time of worship
We praise your Holy Name!

It is an endless source of amazement and delight to realise the superb nature of God's love towards us in Jesus Christ. An increasingly important source of our amazement is the realisation, as Paul puts it "Before the foundation of the world" God wove into the design of the universe the potential that brings us to our present awareness!
This awareness is particularly sharpened, in this Christmas season, through the recognition that God has come to us, as one of us, in Jesus. Thus we can have full confidence in the concept that we are "adopted as his children through Jesus Christ". And so, from the warmth and joy of Christmas, we look forward through the darkness and sorrow of Good Friday to the brilliant hope of Easter.

Verse 1
The expression of your will, Lord,
Is wonderful, beyond our finest fathoming.

Verses 2,3
The power and glory of your creation,
Lord, are awe inspiring, such love for us!

Verse 4
That love, from the beginning
Breathed life into our universe.

Verse 5
The enlightenment of your Spirit,
Lord, enables our being.

Verses 6 - 8
By your grace, Lord, we too
Are witnesses to your glorious light.

Verse 9
Such love, Lord, to come as one of us,
To enlighten ALL of us.

Verse 10
Help us, Lord, not to be ignorant
But to recognise your presence in each other.

Verse 11
Help us, Lord, not to reject you,
But to receive you as we receive each other.

Verses 12 - 13
By your grace, Lord, we are your family,
Help us by your presence, to love one another.

Verse 14
Glory and honour, might an majesty,
Worship an service are yours
Our living, gracious, truth-bearing God

The identifying of Wisdom as a 'wise woman' in the "Wisdom Literature", here and in Proverbs 8: 22 - 36 make, for the Christian, an exciting concept. Thus into a male dominated religion, the Jews introduced this, essentially pragmatic, female aspect. Possible even of God's action!
For our Christian understanding of the Trinity, and the challenges of feminism, we have here a broadening vision.
If we lift these ideas out of their historical nationalism and transplant them into the international Christian world, then as inheritors of the promises to Jacob, as "God's elect", we can experience the blessings.
Thus in verse 18 (usually a footnote!) honourable love, reverence, knowledge, holy hope are major motivating enablers in a dark world.

The greatest gift humanity has is to be able to share ideas through language. For the vast majority this means speech.

Your gift to us of language, Lord,
Enables us to put into words
The thoughts, even dreams, that
Flash in the mind with your light.

Your gift to us of poetry, Lord,
Enables our minds to grasp
A little more of the beauty and
Grandeur of your love for us.

Your gift to us of imagination, Lord,
Enables us to envision the complex
In terms of the ordinary and thus
Enlarge our scope of the vision we have.

In these 'enlightened' times we tend to regard 'rulers', 'kings', with some suspicion. Yet in any society there have to be leaders'. I suppose our problems arise from the fact of 'them' making decisions for us, particularly when we are not sympathetic to those decisions.
We continue to witness the intense evil that can arise when a despotic ruler controls people. This is the, all too common, experience of the human race down the ages.
Here, in this Psalm, we have a prayer that the ruler, "king", may be endowed with the personality and behaviour that derives from "the fear of the Lord". For us, as Christians, this is exemplified in Christ's acceptance of his 'Suffering Servant' role on our behalf.
In very poetical terms it means "governing rightly and doing justly".
We, in our turn, are called upon to give the ruler, "king", our "tribute and homage"; loyal service.

The gospel we proclaim is Good News indeed. For God-in-Christ showed, openly, the extent of his love for us. God has also demonstrated intense personal care for us in that we, very ordinary mortals, are part of his scheme to promote knowledge of his love. Thus we, who are Gentiles, are now the main proclaimers of the "unfathomable riches of Christ". These are not to be measured in the materialist terms of our twenty-first century. Rather are they to be realised as the achievable fullness of life promised by Jesus Christ. To make that fullness a reality in daily living we have to recognise our need and Christ's ability to meet that need. Thus is the true Epiphany (the showing of Christ to the Gentiles) an actual event for each of us.
When we offer our 'gifts' to him he in his turn transforms them into great blessings for us.
Gold becomes a way to enable new life.
Frankincense becomes a way to deeper faith.
Myrrh becomes a way through death.
The whole of life transformed through Jesus.

We saw, in the stars, the signs
Of a new and powerful king.
We knew, from our records,
That he was to rule the Jews,
And so to Jerusalem we journeyed.

When we arrived there was a
Great consternation, for Herod
Their king, and all their leaders.
He had to ask "where is the Messiah
To be born?" "In Bethlehem" they replied.

Onwards, then, to Bethlehem
Not at all in our expectations.
A small town, a small house
Yet when we saw it we knew
That we had, finally, arrived.

The parents were very ordinary
A middle-aged carpenter, a very young
Mother, and the baby - utterly age-less!
We made our homage, offered our gifts
And, in our selves, our whole lives were changed.

Herod was an unpleasant man and
So we changed our route for 'home'.
Yet it did not seem 'home' after we
Had seen the child. For our 'magic'
Was magic no more, he alone was the true way.

You took these words and moulded them,
Lord, into the very fabric of your life.
By the gentle power of your presence
You transformed those who came to you.

In the dogged persistence of your ministry
You overcame your opposers, even death!

You have breathed new life into the lifeless;
You have enabled your "righteous purpose" to be ours.

You have enlightened our minds to your will
And released our, divinely ordered, potential.

You have inspired our praise in all our 'arts'
And, by your grace, our lives declare your glory.

We have made a faint echo of your power. Lord,
As we have split atoms and fused them together.

But we have "ascribed glory and might" to ourselves
And neglected the real glory that comes from your way.

We have equipped ourselves with great 'strength'
But it has given us neither peace nor blessing.

Only by receiving your strength in your way
Can we experience the blessing of your peace.

This season of Epiphany is a wonderful reminder that "God has no favourites". For, whilst the ancient promises were made to and fulfilled in the Jews, it is through the inclusion of the Magi and the revelation to Peter that the universality of Christ is realised. Thus we who "were far off" have been drawn near. We, who were once slaves to sin, have become the inheritors of "the glorious riches of Christ".

Submitting to become one of us,
Born as a helpless infant;

Identifying with our sinfulness
Obedient to the divine requirement;

Suffering through our uttermost pain
Accepting even our 'last enemy';

Triumphing over our worst experience
Recognised and identified by God.