“God of many Names,” we sing in our hymnbook.
Holy God, we come to you from many places with many needs, calling upon you by many names depending on our needs.
When all around us is injustice and oppression, we need you as Judge. When all is broken and shattered, we need you as Reconciler and Healer, and re-Creator. When all is lost, we need you as Savior. When all is confusion, we need you as Wisdom. We call you Father, King and Lord, even knowing how fragile those positions are in human experience. And we need your Mothering touch; we need your strong, protecting, guiding arms around us. From your well-spring of love, with eyes in the back of your head, be our Christmas promise of Emmanuel, God with us.
Bring Arab Spring to full fruition. Bring ancient hatreds to an end. Bring divisions into unity. As unmarked graves are uncovered in one country and new graves are dug in another, as churches burn in this place, and mosques in that place, as old hungers are met by new hungers, as self-destruction is taken to new heights, keep us from despair. Help us to be troubled by what troubles you, to weep as you weep, to love as you love.
Be the Friend we have in Jesus, be the Lover of our soul, be our Mighty Fortress, our Amazing Grace, our Blessed Assurance. Be the Name above all Names, the name we need now. Amen.
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