Prayers for the longest night:

Tonight we gather, as we have before,

To worship, to pray, to support one another, this time has become a time of refuge.

We gather

EVEN WHEN WE FEEL LOST, LONELY AND AFRAID.

We gather and we dare to wonder

If God indeed has come in Jesus, discerning the rejection we have known, intimate with our faults and failings,

Our failed relationships, our failed endeavors, our feelings of hurt and shame…

Holding our heartaches in hands of tenderness.

Tonight we gather, though apart, with new friends, neighbours, and with strangers…

COMING WITH OUR HEARTS FULL OF HOPE

AND OUR HEADS FILLED WITH DOUBTS

Tonight we gather just as we are for we can come no other way.

GOD HAS PROMISED TO MEET US HERE

AND TO WELCOME US FOR WHO WE ARE.

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Carol: O Come O Come Immanuel

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Holy God of Advent, you became weak so we would find strength in moments of heartbreak.

You left the safety of heaven to wander the wilderness of this world, holding our hands when we feel hopeless;

You set aside your glory, to hold our pain so we might be healed.

Even where there seems to be no hope; you became one if us, so we could never be alone, in any moment, in any circumstance.

YOU ARE ONE WITH US

So come now, Child of Bethlehem to strengthen us in these days. May we feel your presence in a way we have never known, not just as one born in a stable, long ago and far away, but as One born in our hearts, even this long night.

YOU ARE ONE WITH US

You have promised to go before us, into our brokenness, into hospital rooms, into empty houses, into graveyards, into our future held by God, and you are here, even now waiting for each of us, to serve us, to hold us, to comfort us, to heal us, to live in us now and forever.

YOU ARE ONE WITH US

AMEN

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Carol : In the Bleak Midwinter

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Reflection

Intercessions:

Response;

Come to them Lord Jesus

COME TO THEM LORD JESUS

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Closing Responses:

And now;

Loose the cords of mistakes binding us, as we release the strands of others guilt.

FORGIVE OUR HIDDEN PAST, THE SECRET SHAMES AS WE SEEK TO CONSISTENTLY FORGIVE WHAT OTHERS HIDE

Lighten our load of secret debts as we relieve others of their need to repay.

ERASE THE INNER MARKS OUR FAILURES MAKE JUST AS WE SCRUB OUR HEARTS OF OTHERS FAULTS

Absorb our frustrated hopes and dreams, as we embrace those of others with emptiness.

UNTANGLE THE KNOTS WITHIN SO THAT WE CAN MEND OUR HEARTS SIMPLE TIES TO OTHERS.

Compost our inner stolen fruit as we forgive others the spoils of their trespassing

LOOSE THE CORDS OF MISTAKES BINDING US, AS WE RELEASE THE STRANDS WE HOLD OF OTHERS GUILT.

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Carol : Come thou long expected Jesus

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Blessing

Sources:

Candles and Conifers- Ruth Burgess- Wild Goose Publications

Prayer Rhythms- Ray Simpson- Kevin Mayhew

Prayers of the Cosmos Neil Douglas Klotz- Harper One