GI Joe probably makes it a much truer representation of Bethlehem, a city with a history of war and violence.Someone apparently wasn't listening to the prayer at Youth Group Sunday.
But beware of the revenge of the stable animals:
Prayer for 12/13: A prayer from the Franciscans, who have defended and served The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem for centuries:Prince of Peace
I have come to bring you peace.
Not the peace of the season, for it is too fleeting.
Not the peace of the carol, for it is nostalgic.
Not the peace of the greeting card, for it is too slick.
Not the peace of the crib, for it is too wistful.
Rather, I have come to bring you peace,
Peace of the ordinary, the daily, the homely,
Peace for the worker, the driver, the student,
Peace in the office, the kitchen, the farm.
I have come to bring you peace,
The peace of accepting yourself as I fashioned you,
The peace of knowing yourself as I know you,
The peace of loving yourself as I love you,
The peace of being yourself as I am who I am.
I have come to bring you peace,
The peace that warms you at the completion of a task,
The peace that invades you at the close of the day,
The peace that sustains you at the beginning of the day,
The peace that reinforces you when you reconcile with another,
The peace that touches you when your family is in order.
Without peace, my coming is unfulfilled.
Without peace, my birth is forgettable.
Without peace, Christmas is a contradiction.
I have come to bring you peace.
That's a lovely prayer - thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteMy friend knitted a nativity set - it turned out very neat (when she told me she was doing this, I had a hard time imaging what this would be like, but it's quite nice). Anyway, I considered following in her footsteps, but I realized it would be too much temptation for my cats. They like to try to play with the wooden Baby Jesus from my nativity set. A knitted Baby Jesus would just be too much. Apparently cats and boys have a lot in common when it comes to nativity sets!