Advent is a time of preparation. We prepare ourselves once again to hail the birth of a baby who shall grow up to become a prophet, priest, and king. When we praise God for sending Jesus Christ into the world, by implication we are re-dedicating ourselves to appropriate the teachings of Jesus into our own lives. Thus Advent and Christmas become a time of renewal for all who call themselves Christians. Therefore let us with confidence worship God!
Pastoral Prayer
We praise Thee, Lord God, for the majesty, magnificence, and mystery of Christmas. We thank Thee for the admirable willingness of Mary and Joseph to go through the wrenching experience which must have faced them in the birth of the unique baby who entered into their lives and ours. We praise Thee for the influences they had in Jesus’ early years, and for the ways in which Thou didst guide them in their immense and befuddling responsibilities.
Heavenly Father, help us to welcome Jesus again into our own lives. Enable us to study more closely and carefully what he taught, and to incorporate it more effectively into our daily existence. May the spirit which was in him also be in us. May the courage, integrity, honesty, and commitment which motivated him motivate us as well. May we become reflections of the light of Jesus Christ in a world which increasingly seems not only to accept darkness, but to promote it. Forgive us for all the ways in which we offend both Thee and Jesus’ teachings, and assist us in the change of heart and direction necessary to make us genuine disciples of the one who comes at Christmas. We pray especially in time of growing political polarity that Thou guide us in how best to relate to people with whom we have profound political differences. Let there be peace on earth, O God, and let it begin with us.
We pray for everyone who today bears particularly heavy burdens: the broken of heart or spirit; those who experience constant physical or psychic pain; those who battle with loss: the loss of physical health or abilities, the loss of a purposeful direction, the loss of loved ones, the loss of faith, the loss of hope. Our needs are great, O God, but Thy ability and willingness to meet those needs are much greater still. Aid us, not necessarily in the specific ways we ask, but in the ways Thou dost know to be the best for us. These things we pray in Jesus’ name. Now we pray together as he taught us, saying, Our Father….