The soles of your feet, O God, have touched the earth.  The back street, the forgotten place, the outbuilding, the simple space has been given new importance as the meeting place of earth and heaven.  Your light has shined into the darkest corners of human existence and, despite all that we do to shut you out, your radiance and your joy break into our lives.  As we have knelt in wonder around the makeshift cradle of your coming this Christmas, so, in this new year, may our songs now rise to magnify your light to others and our unsuspecting bodies be used as the means through which you continue the mighty work of saving the world for which Christ came.

                                                                                                      AMEN