In the Face of Christmaslet us ask God for a good Christmas:
that no powerful nation
should tax the poor
or uproot them;
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that no unmarried mother
should be put away in disgrace;
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that no door will be shut
on those that need to find it open;
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that shepherds and sheep and all of nature
need not be afraid;
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that walls, barbed wire and angry soldiers
may not be found in Bethlehem;
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that wise men and wise women
may reside in a places called 'uncomfortable'
and might appear in places of need, in dark streets,
in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in your town;
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that children may be preserved
from those who would abuse them;
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that this Christmas,
you may become a manger
and your home a stable
and the rumour become a reality
that Christ has come among us.
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