On this 25th day of December 2014, I would like to share a Christmas song with you. This song isn’t typically considered a Christmas song, but I think it speaks to the true meaning of this special day in a powerful way. It points us to a way of living that Jesus, whose birth we celebrate today, so perfectly embodied.
This song, The Prayer of St. Francis, also known as Make Me An Instrument of Your Peace is actually a prayer. It has been my daily prayer for a long time.
At our wedding ceremony 38 years ago, my husband and I asked the vocalist to change the pronouns of The Prayer of St. Francis so it became a prayer for us as a couple. “Make THEM a channel of your Peace, Where there is hatred let THEM bring your love,” etc. It was comforting for us to know we had the prayers of a community behind us as we started our married life.
We decided to make The Prayer of St. Francis part of our children’s lives as well. When each of them turned 18, we organized a “Birthday Blessing Party” by inviting family members, friends, teachers, pastors and others to write a “Blessing” for the birthday person and to come to the party of they could. These blessings were compiled in a booklet and read aloud at the birthday party. After reading through all the collected blessings, we closed each 18th birthday party by singing The Prayer of St. Francis as a group. Again, we changed the pronouns to match the situation. “Make HER, or make HIM a channel of your peace, Where there is hatred let HER or let HIM bring your love,” etc. When I look at the lives of our now adult children, I can see that this prayer is in the process of being answered.
So now, on this Christmas day, I would like to share this song with you. I hope you’ll enjoy hearing the children of this choir sing as much as I did. I hope this song will bless you and help you chart a way of living into 2015!
Merry Christmas!