Living God, the creative spark of your love set our world spinning, and brought us to life; your determined love, your commitment to us, took shape in the back streets of Bethlehem, and soon got entangled in politics; the lively power of your spirit is here and now, lifting us out of ourselves, to new horizons. O Lord, all the world belongs to you, and you are always making all things new; at this time to reflect on a new beginning, we put our trust and our hopes in you; you know what we are made of, and you have trusted us with daunting responsibilities.