A Christmas Prayer

May this Puritan prayer from the book "The Valley of Vision"
be a blessing to you today
as your heart turns to the One who came to be your Savior, Redeemer, Lord, and King.





O source of all good,
What shall I render to thee for the gift of gifts,
thine own dear Son, begotten, not created,
my redeemer, proxy, surety, substitute,
His self-emptying incomprehensible,
His infinity of love beyond the heart’s grasp.

Herein is wonder of wonders;
He came below to raise me above,
was born like me that I might become like Him.

Herein is love;
When I cannot rise to Him He draws near on wings of grace,
to raise me to Himself.

Herein is power;
When Deity and humanity were infinitely apart
He united them in indissoluble unity, the uncreated and the created.

Herein is wisdom;
When I was undone, with no will to return to Him,
and no intellect to devise recovery,
He came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost,
as man to die my death,
to shed satisfying blood on my behalf,
to work out a perfect righteousness for me.

O God,
take me in spirit to the watchful shepherds, and enlarge my mind;
let me hear good tidings of great joy,
and hearing, believe, rejoice, praise, adore,
my conscience bathed in an ocean of repose,
my eyes uplifted to a reconciled Father;
Place me with ox, ass, camel, goat,
to look with them upon my Redeemer’s face,
and in Him account myself delivered from sin;
Let me with Simeon clasp the new-born child to my heart,
embrace Him with undying faith,
exulting that He is mine and I am his.
In him thou hast given me so much that heaven can give no more.
Amen.




A Midwinter Prayer


From the rising of the midwinter sun to its setting,
Scatter the darkness with the light of your love, O Shining One.

Make me short on mean thoughts, long on offering words of comfort.
Make me short on being driven, long on paying attention.
Make me short on focusing only on my own, long on looking beyond.
Make me short on obsessive lists, long on spontaneous acts of kindness,
Make me short on mindless activity, long on time to reflect.
Make me short on tradition as habit, long on re-discovery and re-owning.
Make me short on rushing and tiring, long on walking and wondering.
Make me short on false festive jollity, long on stilling and rooted joy.
Make me short on guilt, long on being merciful to myself.
Make me short on being overwhelmed, long on peaceableness as I set forth this day.


Attributed to the Revd. Tess Ward
(ordained Anglican priest, retreat leader and spiritual director)
and found in her book entitled “The Celtic Wheel of the Year”
It’s also included in the Celtic Daily Prayer – Book II –
‘Farther Up and Farther In’

Found on:
The Ready Writer