December 21, 2025 (Advent)
Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC
O God, thank you for being our Emmanuel, for you are with us in every second of our day, in every breath we take, in every situation we face, and in every prayer we express.
Whether we are consciously aware of your presence or not aware of your presence, you’re there anyway. You’re always with us offering your grace, your love, your guidance, your healing, and your goodness. What a powerful thought to know that you are closer to us than we can ever think or imagine.
And so, thank you for this holy season in which we are reminded that you are our Emmanuel, our God who is always with us. And thank you for being present with those who are on our hearts and minds this day, the people on our church’s prayer list, those who are hungry, those who are sick, those who feel alone. We pray for our world where there is so much violence, fear, suffering, and injustice. Thank you for being our Emmanuel, our God who is among the pots and the pans and the everyday tasks and routines of our lives.
Thank you for sending us Jesus, our Lord and our Savior. Our redeemer and our King. Our shepherd and our teacher. Our Prince of Peace and our friend. He truly is the name that is above all names. His name is wonderful, Jesus, our Lord.
As we prepare our hearts anew for his coming into the world this Christmas, may our prayer be the same as our hymn writer, “O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray; cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels the grateful tidings tell; O come to us, abide with us, our Lord, Emmanuel.”
O come to us, abide in us as we pray these words that Jesus taught us to pray together…
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
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