I love the prayers of the ancient church leaders. There’s something profoundly meaningful and beautiful about praying the words that millions of saints have prayed for hundreds, or even thousands, of years. The words of those who have passed this way before remind us that we inhabit this space and time for just a moment, but in that moment we are connected by spiritual cords to the past and the future. There is a oneness of time that is celebrated in Advent. We yearn, as all those before us have yearned. We hope, as all those who come after us will hope. And we believe, as all those before us have believed and how we pray that those who come after us will believe. Today, think about the time and place in which you inhabit on this earth. Stretch out your thoughts and call to mind all those who have gone before you. Hold them in one hand, and with the other, take hold of those who will come after. See yourself perfectly centered between the past and the future, with the great I Am holding it all in balance.

Pray this prayer from the ancient Christian Church at Christmas.

Enable us, Lord, to reach the end of this luminous feast in peace, forsaking all idle words, acting virtuously, shunning our passions, and raising ourselves above the things of this world.

Bless your church, which you brought into being long ago and attached to yourself through your own life-giving blood. Help all orthodox pastors, heads of churches, and theologians.

Bless your servants, whose trust is all in you; bless all Christian souls, the sick, those tormented by evil spirits, and those who have asked us to pray for them.

Show yourself as merciful as you are rich in grace; save and preserve us; enable us to obtain those good things to come which will never know an end.

May we celebrate your glorious birth, and the Father who sent you to redeem us, and your Spirit, the Giver of life, now and forever, age after age. Amen.

Blessings and Peace,

Sara