To be a people of hope, O God … that’s our prayer … to live deeply into your love, to cast our burdens upon you … to trust you in all things, to trust you for good …
But even as we confess our faith and celebrate your love, O God, we’re not naïve … we don’t live in an imaginary world where love always wins and faith conquers all … it’s not that way, LORD … you know it, and we know it, too.
We’re bound together, not only by joy, but in suffering, too … life has so many dark chapters; help us, O God, to be real … to be real … for one another, and for ourselves, LORD … to offer sympathy and understanding to our own soul … to be kind to ourselves … and kind to one another …
Help us, we pray, to be real in our faith, hope and love …
To know that you came to us … to be with us along the way – in the best of times, of course … but in the worst of times, too … God with us … Emmanuel … born in a stable, visited by shepherds … not princes and places, but just plain people …
LORD, there are times when our faith stumbles, when we can barely hang on … but we came here this morning … because something inside of us doesn’t give up … there’s a song in the deeps of our spirit …
A miracle … you hang on to us … though our faith wanes, your love for us only grows stronger … your love, unconditional and without requirement … always and forever.
As each of us travels our own road, O God, remind us that you travel with us …
We bring to you this day our world … a cacophony of voices – strident and sweet, weary and winsome, angry and kind …
We’re mindful of the economic stress confronting millions … we feel the pinch, too … it’s disconcerting, frightening, saddening …
But we’re here, LORD, because we believe … we believe in you and we believe in Jesus our LORD … we believe in love and we believe in goodness … and we’ll not give up, LORD, not matter what … because you don’t give up … you know what it is to be rejected … you know suffering through and through … you know the pain of the soul, for your own souls suffers amidst the sorrows of creation … but you don’t and won’t give up.
Touch us, this day, with the gift of your Holy Spirit – your love deep within us – a loyalty to great causes that death cannot stop and wrong will not conquer. Make us the church in the best sense of that word – generous and kind, open and welcoming … Covenant on the Corner … a place for all!
Surprise someone with hope who at this moment has not dared to hope … make radiant some soul that has not expected it … bring life to someone for whom tears have been a companion … and for someone in the grip of darkness, bless them with enough light to get them through the night …
We thank you for this Advent Season … a time of waiting and watching … we know not when, we know not how, but we know and believe that your love comes to us … that every moment is filled with Advent Promise, that watching and waiting will bring its reward …
In the name of our LORD Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name …
No comments:
Post a Comment