Heavenly Father,
May I find joy
in the ordinary, mundane good works…
As Adam left the Garden
With Eve close by his side,
As inward, hearts were hardened,
And eastward, daylight died…
Disrupting the garden,
He stirred up the ground,
breathing life into the dust:
God’s image became us…
when i feel like
i am
less…
A long time ago, in old Israel dwelling
There lived a man Jonah, whose story I’m telling.
Now Jonah was special, what they call a prophet,
Who spoke with the Lord, not a person to scoff at…
God gives us more than we can handle
Be it grief, pain, loneliness, scandal…
God of Light and Life,
As we prepare our hearts this Advent,
at the end of a trying year…
Oh, come, ye unfaithful
Broken and polluted!
Oh, come ye, oh, come ye…
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel. We sing in full voice, though it be in a minor key. We sing rejoice. Lord Jesus, quickly come. Amen.
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Advent conceives a hope in the heart:
Creation reborn, a brand new start.
Eden becomes the trough of the beast…
We cannot rush through sorrow. Walking through pain and loss and grief is like walking through water—slow, hard, and exhausting. It takes time. And it takes a toll on us. We feel trapped in confusion, surrounded by chaos…
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Gracious and Heavenly Father, we come before you with contrite hearts, mindful of the great gap between how you see your Church and how we live out Your love in our lives…
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God’s grace us as broad as the world is wide,
But narrow the door to enter faith’s side…
Oh Spirit of Truth,
help me in my weakness
to be still and to know
that the former things have
passed away…
Lord, You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
You made no mistakes when you stitched me together as a unique creation.
Merciful God, we confess how easy it is
for us to begin to adopt the attitudes
and actions of the world around us;
to let our lives be shaped only by
culture rather than by your call.
Lord, in Your mercy, hear and forgive.
A confession and absolution based on the text from Philippians 2.
LEADER: The apostle has called us to have the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus
and thus to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit…
Blessed Creator, You have promised those You love rest;
Give us restoring rest needed for life’s toil;
Let Your Spirit make our time of rest
a blessed temple of Christ’s holy presence.
Merciful Father,
May Your love permeate our lives today.
May it flow freely from our hearts,
our mouths, and our thumbs,
Almighty God, hear our cries; cries of despair perhaps barely even audible, cries of pain so loud they echo.
Lord, as You wept over Jerusalem, we know even now Your heart breaks over the brokenness of sin and injustice caused. May it break our hearts as well.
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