Pastoral Prayer Today

I have to pray a pastoral prayer after the singing of the Coventry Carol at this evening's service. This is my best effort thus far:


Almighty God, our merciful Heavenly Father, we are reminded in the singing of the Coventry Carol, that the birth of your Son was an act of war against the reign of the darkness of this world. Your ancient enemy, the devil, was threatened by the birth of Mary's son. And so he, who from the beginning has been a murderer, set out to slay the child Jesus by inspiring Herod to kill the children of Bethlehem. The contrast between the songs of the angels and the wails of the bereft mothers is most striking. We confess that we do not understand the mystery either of the incarnation of Your Son, nor of the presence of evil in this world. We do not understand why such terrible things as the slaughter of the innocent children should happen.

But we thank you for what we do know from this gift of your son to us. We know that you care about the evil of this world and that your Son has, ever since his birth, been on a mission to rid this world of all evil forever. We thank you that, because Jesus has come, there is coming a day when there will never again be any Herods, nor any murder, nor any tears, or loss, or sorrows of any kind. We thank you that the blessings that Jesus came to bring to this world will flow as far as the curse is found. Heavenly Father, this is a message of joy indeed and we thank you that you have revealed it to us and called us to join your Son's army to proclaim this joyous news to the whole world.

We therefore pray, our Lord, for faithfulness. Faithfulness in the various places where you have placed us. Faithfulness in our hearts; faithfulness to each other, faithfulness to you who have loved us more than we will ever know. We pray for faithfulness in our own personal war against the sin in our lives and our families. We pray for faithfulness in our war against the evil of this world as we seek to overcome it, not with a sword, but with deeds of kindness and love.

And we pray especially for our brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ who, this night, are in want, need, sorrow, pain or any other evil because they are being persecuted for their faith in You. O Lord, you alone are the all together faithful one. Be faithful to them, stand beside them, as you stood beside your servant St. Paul, and deliver them from the mouth of the lion, while granting them strength to make known the good news of Jesus Christ to all those around them, that the enemies of your church may fall on their knees before you and your son, the King, Jesus, and join with us in the joyous hope of the new world to come. For this fellowship of faithfulness and love, we ask, in the name of your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our only Saviour and King, now and forever. Amen.