Pastoral Prayer for Advent

Here’s a pastoral prayer for the Advent season. It was written by John Vest (see below for link).

Pastoral Prayer for the Season of Advent

Good and gracious God,
we give you thanks for gifts of life,
for gifts of love and joy during this season,
for gifts of comfort when we do not or cannot feel that joy,
for gifts of healing and mercy,
for gifts of patience and serenity,
for gifts of hope as we prepare our hearts for Christmas.

Christ’s presence changes our world,
so we pray that he may indeed be born in us once again,
that we may be continually born anew,
that the whole world would be reshaped and reborn
as your kingdom emerges around us and within us.

May your Spirit stir within us,
and cause us to long for the day
when earth will in fact be like heaven.

It is this radical vision of a new heaven and a new earth
for which we pray,
using the words Jesus taught us.

Our Father…

~ written by John W. Vest, and posted on John Vest. http://johnvest.com/

Call to Worship: Prepare ye the way

Here’s an Advent call to worship from Roddy Hamilton and the New Kilpatrick Parish Church website. He writes: “Six news headlines were printed across daily newspapers. Six people at the front lifted them and opened the newspaper at the appropriate verse. Each newspaper had one word of the phrase: PREPARE - THE - WAY - OF - THE – LORD.”

Call to Worship: Prepare ye the way

(inspired by Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:3, Isaiah 40:3)

Have you heard the news:

Get the news writers ready.
Rearrange their headlines
with words of hope and expectation

Get the economists excited.
Give them news of upturns and renewal
in people’s values rather than market value

Get the politicians lobbied.
Inform them it is time to measure
their new index of the nation’s gross national happiness

Get the poor prepared.
Invite them to find their place at table
and help themselves to a banquet shared with the rich

Get justice underway.
Get busy crushing the darkness
and countering the now exposed half-truths of those in power

Get the bread of life baked.
Get the wine of truth poured
and bring on the advent of God 

Prepare ye

the way of the Lord

~ written by Roddy Hamilton, and posted on the New Kilpatrick Parish Church website. https://www.nkchurch.org.uk/original-liturgy 

Invitation into Advent

Here’s a call to worship for Advent from Cheryl Lawrie. It was posted on [hold this space].

Advent Call to Worship

It doesn’t matter whether or not you can have faith;

whether or not you are cynical or despairing,

hope-filled or hope-less:

what matters to God is simply that you are here.

We are entering the time of Advent,

in preparation for Christmas.

Advent reminds us that if God is to be born again

in the most ordinary parts of our world and our lives

that we need prepare for it.

We need to make the space in our lives

where love might be born.

Welcome to this tiny corner of a harsh and dark world.

Together, let us practice being ready

in the faith that Christ will come. 

~ written by Cheryl Lawrie and posted on [hold this space]. http://holdthisspace.org.au/all-of-who-we-are/

Advent Poem: Let Advent Begin Again

Here’s a poem for Advent from David A. Redding. It was posted on Journey with Jesus.

Advent Poem

O Lord,
let Advent begin again
in us,
not merely in commercials;
for that first Christmas was not
simply for children,
but for the
wise and the strong.

It was
crowded around that cradle,
with kings kneeling.

Speak to us
who seek an adult seat this year.

Help us to realize,
as we fill stockings,
Christmas is mainly
for the old folks —
bent backs
and tired eyes
need relief and light
a little more.

No wonder
it was grown-ups
who were the first
to notice
such a star.

~ written by David A. Redding, in If I Could Pray Again (1965). Posted on Journey with Jesus. http://www.journeywithjesus.net/

Advent Call to Worship: Upside-Down Kingdom

Here’s a simple call to worship for the start of the Advent season. It comes from the Third Space website.

Call to Worship for Advent

This Advent, we hope and pray for:

Joy as we journey together,

Sight for the blind and healing for the sick,

Freedom for the prisoners and good news for the poor,

Release for the oppressed with justice for all

and love for each other.      

And the coming of God’s topsy-turvy,

inside out,

upside-down Kingdom.

~ posted on Third Space. http://third-space.org.uk/

Advent Prayer: We Pray for Your Peace

Here’s a prayer of petition and intercession for Advent. It was written by Rev. Karla Miller, and posted on RevGalBlogPals.

Advent Prayer

Ah Holy One,

in this season of Advent,

we wait for you to break into our worlds, unexpectedly.

Help us to stay awake, to be aware, to hope against hope.

We pray for your peace in this world

when You will settle things fairly between nations,

and make things right between peoples.

We pray for your peace

when all will turn their weapons into something useful

but not for war.

We pray for you to show us

how to simply be advocates for your peace and hope. 

Help us to know that what we do makes a difference.

We pray for the peace you bring within families.

We pray for the peace you bring within ourselves.

We pray for your peace to come for those who are ill,

those who are grieving,

Those who are struggling,

those who are suffering,

those who are lonely,

and those who have been devastated by disaster.

Surprise us with the possibilities

of how your vision of peace and hope might take root,

and how we might live into this vision of justice and love

for all of creation.

Even so Lord Jesus Come. Amen.

~ written by Rev. Karla Miller, Minister of Community Life at Old North Church UCC in Marblehead, MA. Posted on RevGalBlogPals. https://revgalblogpals.org/2016/11/26/sunday-prayer-207/   

Advent Creed

Here’s a Trinitarian affirmation of faith for Advent, “drawing on advent themes of waiting, quiet and silence.” It was written by Dave Hopwood, and posted on Area 52/Engage Worship.

Advent Creed

We believe in God the Father, creator of heaven and earth.

The one who is full of patience,

who is not afraid of silence,

who does not need to fill each moment with activity and noise.

The one who is beyond bluster and flurry,

and who does not jostle for attention.

We believe in God the Son, Saviour of creation,

who slipped into Bethlehem one night, mostly unnoticed,

who lived thirty years without headlines or hurry,

who frequently took time alone with his patient Father,

who waited for the right time to become the suffering servant,

who stood quietly before the noise of his accusers,

whose silence overpowered their words,

who died, then rose again on a quiet Sunday morning.

We believe in God the Holy Spirit,

who strengthens, empowers, renews and refreshes,

sometimes arriving with obvious power,

sometimes with the quiet breath of a whisper.

We believe in one God

who patiently waits for us,

and who longs for us to do the same.

~ copyright © Dave Hopwood/engageworship.org. Posted on Area 52/Engage Worship. https://engageworship.org/