Tag Archives: Christmas

Prayer of Grief for the Losses on our Card List

21 Thursday Dec 2023

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Divine Deliverer of All Greetings-

As we scan the names of loved ones on our holiday card list, we ache with the absences reminded by this list. We’ve lost the aunts, uncles, cousins, old loves, and friends. As they abide with you on that side of heaven, our hearts hunger for their presence. Our breath is taken away by the sight of their names. The lights of this season is dimmed just a little more with each loss.

God of All Connections, our ties with some love ones on the list have stretched and broken. They remain here on this earth, but our contact is minimal to none. Due to our falling-out, there is pain that radiates throughout our spirits.

And some on our list have just drifted away as we’ve grown apart. While there are little hurt feelings, melancholy rises as nostalgia draws us away from the present moment to a time that will never be again.

Holy Comfort- Heal our hearts with each pinprick of sadness or wave of grief. May we remember the joyful times often. Ease the hard memories that linger.

For your children who are still alive, please bless their paths that divert from ours. May their health be sustained, and may their new year find bountiful blessings.

For the loved ones of saints who will no longer be on the list: deliver strength to them during this holiday season. May your comfort coat their hearts and peace fill their souls.

And for the saints we marked off the list this year or years before: May they live into the eternal lights of Epiphany and absorb the fullness of your presence and love.

Amen.

(c) 2023 Rev. Michelle L. Torigian. Permission to use with attribution.

A Liturgy for “Christmas in July”

17 Monday Jul 2023

Posted by in Church Life, Holidays

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Call to Worship
One: God who dwells in the mystery of life
Many: Fill us with wonder as we traipse around your world.
One: Christ who offers kindness and mercy
Many: Fill us with understanding as we meet our stranger, enemy, and friend.
One: Spirit who delivers dreams to us
Many: Draw us into your visions of love for our neighbors.

Invocation
God of Illumination,
Under the sparkles of the Christmas lights and long starry night skies, we find joy in the bustle of the Christmas season.  As the Christmas lights are taken down, the beauty of Christmas is just beginning.  Birth is happening in the springtime buds, the summer sunsets, the autumn hues, and the winter snowfall.  May we see the joy of birth surrounding us throughout our year.  May this joy move us to bear kindness, creating your Realm here on earth.  Amen.

Prayer of Reflection
Holy Bearer of Delight-
Most days, we shuffle along, filled with focus on the ordinary.  Instead of seeing your Divine Light in each space, we overlook the beauty of your presence.  Open our souls to notice the amazement of your steadfast presence.  May we see the holy beauty of each flower’s petal, each cloudy sunset, each rumble of thunder, and each weed in our lawns.  Amen.

Assurance of God’s Grace
Our God who gives us rebirth, resurrections, and renewals lavishes us with grace.  May God’s mercy allow us to see how newness can transform our lives.

Reflection on Giving
The Gift of Christmas is greater than what can be found in any wrapped box.  Christmas has presented us with the Christ in our midst.  As Jesus the Christ was the one who taught us how to love one another, we pass this Divine Love to our neighbors through our talents, treasures, and time.  Whether Christmas or Easter, Pentecost or any ordinary day, we share our gifts with the church and community.

Blessing of the Gifts
Enchanting God, Divine Joy,
We take these days in the warmth of summertime to remember the birth of the Christ.  We take time away from the consumerist holiday to celebrate the holy aspects of Christmas.  May this day remind us of the mirth of Jesus’ birth and the love of Jesus which still ripples in our world.  May we spend these next few months until Christmas with the joy of rebirth in our hearts, sharing that excitement with our neighbors around us.  Amen.

Benediction
Filled with the joy of this ordinary day,
May we go forward celebrating the magnificent and ordinary,
The fantastic and everyday,
The mediocre and amazing,
The astounding and common.
God is in the shiny days and cloudy evenings,
The starry nights and the foggy mornings.
Let us find Divine Sparkle no matter the time or space
As God is already there!

*****

(c) 2023 Rev. Michelle L. Torigian. Permission to use with attribution.

A Blessing on the Last Days of Christmas

04 Wednesday Jan 2023

Posted by in Epiphany Liturgy/Prayers, Holidays, Prayers

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Divine Glimmer-

The strands of lights are unhooked from the eavestroughs,
And the metallic garland removed from tree’s branches.
January’s shadows prevail when Christmas is removed.

Yet you are the Great Light.
When the brightness of Christmas has been erased from our sight,
The Epiphany glow in our souls brightens.

May the Epiphany Glow expand from our hearts
to reach our neighbors hurting from the cold nights,
short days, and seasonal silence.

May the Epiphany Glow draw us together
even greater than the parties of December
and the hustle of Advent.

May the Epiphany Glow kindle kindness,
knowing that the Christ is present in our midst,
as you, Holy Light, are eager to build your bright realm in our shadowed world.

Amen.

Under the Night Sky – A Christmas Poem

15 Wednesday Dec 2021

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Under the night sky
We abide the beauty of God’s darkness.
Beyond midnight- where miracles fill the earth and magic fill the skies.
Where stars and planets twinkle, delighting both the greatest skeptics and believers.

Under the night sky
In the chilly winds of nighttime,
A young woman met her son,
And light came into her world.
This illumination spread beyond time and space,
Expanding beyond human limitations into our world.

Under the night sky
Humans saw the alignment of planets birthing an extraordinary light-
The greatest star declaring a birth.
And as human and divine aligned that night, the world shifted to a new realm.

(c)2021 Rev. Michelle L. Torigian. Permission to use in a worship service (including a streamed service) with attribution.

What It Was – A Christmas Poem

09 Thursday Dec 2021

Posted by in Advent prayers, Liturgy, Pop

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It wasn’t a night full of familiar carols
But a melody crafted from surrounded creation.

It wasn’t an eve fashioned with trees and tinsel
But a stable of simplicity adorned with hay and dirt.

It was a cow rejoicing with a smoothened moo
And a sheep baa-ing in jubilation.
A woman sobbing with relief and great joy
And words of love from her beloved.

Stillness and motion danced in the twilight
Allowing room for Divine Light to pierce reality’s realm
And ushering in a new era of warmth, love, and hope
On top of the chilly earth below.

(c) Rev. Michelle L. Torigian. Permission to use in a worship service (including a streamed service) with attribution.

Christmas Eve – Lighting the Christ Candle

24 Monday Dec 2018

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A warm glow spreads throughout our world declaring that God is with us. The light which extends from the farthest reaches of our earth to the neighbor next door alerts us that we are not alone throughout these long winter nights.

Tonight we proclaim the hope that inspires us to keep moving forward on our journeys. We recognize the peace that extends from our souls into the world. We celebrate the joy that fills our spirits with excitement. And we herald the love passed between the Christ and us and between our neighbors and us.

As the Christ Candle is kindled, we celebrate the compassion which will overcome hatred and the kindness which will overcome isolation.

May the light seen tonight fill our souls throughout the new year and beyond, enlivening our spirits throughout eternity.

Amen.

Advent Prayers – A Prayer on Premature Nights

13 Thursday Dec 2018

Posted by in Advent prayers, Current Events, Holidays, Life, Pop

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God who thrives in the shadows-
The frigid winds drive us back into our winter abodes
Nearly isolating us from our neighbors
And capturing our uplifted spirits until Spring.

As night arrives earlier than yesterday’s appearance,
We ask that this season refuses to keep us from spiritual seclusion
As we fight against our natural tendency to hibernate.

May this season of long nights
Be ones filled with warm memories,
Inviting conversations,
Cozy dwellings,
And rooms of mirth.

When the shadows grow long
And hope escapes,
May our spirits find breath to endure until tomorrow.

Amen.

Advent Prayers – A Prayer for Focus

05 Wednesday Dec 2018

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Spirit of Strength who abides with us in the sparkles and shadows-
In the midst of this glitzy season
Filled with every distraction known to people,
Give us the focus to finish what we’ve started.

May Advent draw our attention to the sweetness of the journey-
Not the saccharine superficial sentiments of cultural expectation.

May Advent enliven our spirits and energize our tired minds.

May Advent drive us away from disturbances
And give us the gall to reach into the caverns of injustice
to aid in the delivery of God’s holy righteousness.

Amen.

A Retail Worker’s Prayer

23 Friday Nov 2018

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Ever-Present One, as the day seems long, and our energy is dwindling, give us the strength to see the hope and joy in this very moment.

Give us patience during these many hours. Help us to reach out in love. Open our eyes to new possibilities in our jobs. Present to us opportunities to spend time with friends and family, And provide us with restful sleep tonight.

Amen.

A Prayer for All of the Buddy the Elves

10 Sunday Dec 2017

Posted by in Holidays, Movies, Pop, Pop Culture

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Elf © Warner Home Video.

God of the expanding Christmas season-
Where trees and songs and lights are always in our peripheral view if not directly in front of us-
We recognize all of the people who have a “Buddy the Elf” life. 

They don’t fit in one world or another.  They are outcasts in every context they inhabit-  Some in towns too small and others in cities too large and where neighbors have too little holiday spirit.  They may be in the process of coming acquainted with their new surroundings.

Identity crises have claimed their Buddy-like souls right now.  They begin to question who they are.  Their past makes no sense and their future paths are a mystery.

And even when questions are looming over their heads and hovering from behind, their heart blazes with excitement that is rarely experienced.

They have every reason to be sad or cynical.  Yet optimism is their default setting.

And so we pray our Buddy is loved just as they are.  May our Buddy continue to live with one foot in the real world and another in their glistening utopia.  May our Buddy realize their true gifts of carriers of the Christmas Spirit.

And may their joy infect all of us who may be feeling a bit irritable or discontent in the midst of this season.

Amen.