Opening Prayer for January 4

God of light, in this season of Light,

we gather together to celebrate the birth of the Light of the World.

God of light, we are drawn to your Light,

and yet wherever there is light there is shadow.

God of the nations, God of residents and aliens and refuges,

in this time of worship remind us that sometimes our stories are far more complicated than we remember.

And as we live in the complications,

allow us to see how you are present, both in the times of glory, and in the times of terror, when the outcome is in doubt.

We pray in the name of Jesus, the child just born, forced to flee to a strange land, who will one day teach his friends to pray saying...