Lord Jesus,
Comfort us with the truth that in all things we can call on your name, the One who saves, for you are gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion, and His light shines in the darkness.
Hold to your promise that the Lord protects the unwary; when we are brought low, He saves us. Our King, come out of eternity and into time, to bring us out of time and into eternity.
Remind us, Lord, that you did not come to defeat local enemies, but universal ones. Those foes that besiege our conscience, plague us with guilt, and drive us to the grave.
When we wander or find ourselves lost to temptation, fear, and the world’s ways, be our Great Shepherd. Hunt us down with your grace and love, with the Good News that it was for sinners just like us that you entered into the world to save it.
Just as the magi received you as you chose to come in humble circumstances, as a child in the little town of Bethlehem, cause us to receive you as you now come, ever so simply, in Word and Sacrament. The divine, wrapped in humanity, now wrapped in the proclamation of the Gospel and the bread and wine of the foretaste of the feast to come. Be the Christ for us. Hold to your promises, ease our conscience, be gentle with a doubting heart, kindle our faith, remove our guilt, rest us in the truth that the One who saves, saves us.
AMEN.