Transform our empty spaces
O Christmas God
Fill the empty mangers of the world
with food
Empty the cardboard boxes,
refuge of the lonely and despairing
Bring warmth and light and shelter
to all who watch and wait this night.
In bar and bare hillside
In barrio and back room
in crowded flat and empty home
may we feel your presence
at our shoulder and in our hearts.
Kate McIlhagga
Kate McIlhagga's lovely prayer reminds us that we are an integral part of God's transformative action in the world and challenges us to ask ourselves how WE are helping to 'empty the cardboard boxes' or to 'bring warmth and light and shelter'
Kate McIlhagga was a minister and a member of the Iona Community until her death in 2002.
Taken from 'The Green Heart of the Snowdrop'