A Christmas Prayer

May you be strengthened with all power, 

according to his glorious might, 

for all endurance and patience with joy, 

giving thanks to the Father, 

who has qualified you to share 

in the inheritance of the saints in light. 

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness

 and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 

in whom we have redemption, 

the forgiveness of sins. 

He is the image of the invisible God, 

the firstborn of all creation. 

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth,

visible and invisible, 

whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—

all things were created through him and for him. 

And he is before all things, 

and in him all things hold together. 

And he is the head of the body, the church. 

He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, 

that in everything he might be preeminent. 

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 

and through him to reconcile to himself all things,

whether on earth or in heaven, 

making peace by the blood of his cross.

Colossians 1:11-20 (ESV)