image / The Flight to Egypt / James Tissot
God of the homeless, the refugee, the displaced:
we come expectant and hopeful before you.
In the world around us today
we find ourselves surrounded by those, like Christ,
without a place to simply be.
A season of blessing, our season of rain,
is a curse for those without shelter.
You know what it is like to be displaced from your home,
your family expelled from Israel out of fear of Herod.
In the same way, people flee their homes in fear of earthy leaders,
uncertain of what the future may hold.
Those whose lands have been taken from them
despair at the loss of valuable assets and resources.
Lord of hope, we are assured of your provision in this season
where we expect the Bread of Life.
We are assured that you come to be with those who lack,
those on the periphery,
as we remember you being born in a manger.
We are assured that your hand is outstretched to all,
first to the poor and then to the rich,
as shepherds and then magi came to the place of your birth.
Incarnate in hopeless situations for us, your people, we pray.
Amen.
complied by Claudio Carvalhaes, professor of worship in New York City
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After the wise men were gone,
an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.
“Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said.
“Stay there until I tell you to return,
because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother,
That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother,
and they stayed there until Herod’s death.
This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet:
“I called my Son out of Egypt.”
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