Father,
Today I come to you with a heavy heart on behalf of all who have a heavy heart this Christmas.
Maybe it’s not facing the Christmas of 2020,
the Christmas of such a strange and isolating year,
of such a year full of new kinds of hard.
Or maybe every Christmas is marked by sorrow
because of a loved one lost or a relational break.
Maybe it’s anxiety or depression that is intensified in this season
that is meant to be marked by joy.
Open the eyes of the suffering
to see the beauty Isaiah describes,
of a day when all of God’s people
will enter the new heavens and the new earth with singing,
a bejeweled crown resting on their heads.
Open the eyes and hearts of all
to see the day when
“Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”
Until that day comes,
may we know the profound comfort your Son,
our very present Savior, brings us.
In Jesus’ suffering name. Amen.
