A PRAYER FOR THIRD ADVENT(NT)

Luke 3:15-18 (NIT)

15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. 16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with[a] water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with[b] the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” 18 And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.

We didn't mind the water, John

It cleansed us

Made us feel better

Washed away our sins and shortcomings

The water was fresh...clean...refreshing

We danced in the water

splashed each other

laughed and played in the Jordan

We were alive and happy

We felt part of a family...a group...a movement

Danger was far away

Your baptism brought us together

where no harm could touch us

Now you proclaim another baptism

A baptism of  the Holy Spirit and fire.

No more water

The fire next time

A fire that will burn us

Igniting and blazing and consuming us

all that we are and all that we have

absorbing everything and everyone

Will our souls be singed

Our spirits be kindled in ways

that will frighten and scar us

Shaping us in new and terrible ways

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

It's his baptism, isn't it John

The One who is coming

The One

Jesus Christ, The Lord

His baptism of fire

will set us ablaze

to be a beacon in a world shrouded in darkness

a candle of joy amongst sadness and depression

a torch for peace amidst the slaughter of the innocent

A baptism that gathers

Brings together all who proclaim the Good News

of love and forgiveness

justice and wholeness

A baptism that separates

Winnows out all who demand control

Who practice selfishness and apathy

tyranny and violence

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

O Lord of the Baptism

Come, we pray

Drench us with the Spirit and the fire

So that we may be your candles in the windows of the world

that it may see your life and your words

In our lives.

Amen

A PRAYER FOR THIRD ADVENT(OT)

Zephaniah 3:14-20(MSG)

16-17 Jerusalem will be told:

    “Don’t be afraid.

Dear Zion,

    don’t despair.

Your God is present among you,

    a strong Warrior there to save you.

Happy to have you back, he’ll calm you with his love

    and delight you with his songs.

18-20 “The accumulated sorrows of your exile

    will dissipate.

I, your God, will get rid of them for you.

    You’ve carried those burdens long enough.

At the same time, I’ll get rid of all those

    who’ve made your life miserable.

I’ll heal the maimed;

    I’ll bring home the homeless.

In the very countries where they were hated

    they will be venerated.

On Judgment Day

    I’ll bring you back home—a great family gathering!

You’ll be famous and honored

    all over the world.

You’ll see it with your own eyes—

    all those painful partings turned into reunions!”

        God’s Promise.

We are lost

and cannot find our way home

We have wandered from the joys of marriage

and the richness of family life

We have torn through broken relationships and shattered relationships

We have hurt and been hurt by selfish desires and need for control

We have been scared to show forgiveness and too proud to accept it

Bring us home, Dear God

to the richness and joy that the long and difficult work

that builds and sustains healthy relationships

and wholesome friendships

To learn anew to forgive and be forgiven

We are lost

and cannot find our way home

We are at sea in desires for security and wealth

We fear for our aging, our children, our savings, our health

We waste more than we need...abuse more than we use

We accumulate more than we share

Bring us home, Dear God

Teach us again the joy of giving

to those who need and they that hunger

To give of ourselves as well as our bounty

To sell all and follow you

We are lost

and cannot find our way home

We have taken the the road of warfare

falsely believing it leads to peace

We use drones and RPGs not prayers and petitions

to enforce our will and demand obedience

Nation building in our graven images

Bring us home, Dear God

Show us away the things that make for peace

Enable us to beat our swords into plowshares

and our spears into pruning hooks...

not take up sword against nation,

nor train for war anymore.

Bring us home, Dear God

Dwell among us again

Give us peace

Give us hope

Give us joy

Now and forevermore

Amen

A PRAYER FOR SECOND ADVENT (NT)

Luke 3:1-6  (NIV)

3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

    make straight paths for him.

5 Every valley shall be filled in,

    every mountain and hill made low.

The crooked roads shall become straight,

    the rough ways smooth.

6 And all people will see God’s salvation.’”[a]

Hey God,

He's at it again

Down there at the Jordan

Hoopin and hollerin

like some backwater Bible thumper

from out of the rustic back waters

whoopin up a revival meeting

Do you see how he's dressed Lord

What a get up!

Some sort of camel hair's vest... cloak or whatever

No decent priest or rabbi would be caught dead

in that kind of get-up

living on honey and locust

And God

Did you hear what he was shouting about

Some nonsense about everything being turned

upside down and inside out

backwards and all calliwhompous

Did you catch the his grand finale, Lord

We will all there to see it

Front row seats for celestial blockbuster

Looks like we're invited for the Gala Opening

Wonder if it will get a good review  in the Times?

What's that God?

You sent him

Called him to be your prophet

Called him to go down to the Jordan

and speak to us

to hear the Word

You gave him the message, O Lord

A message that is unsettling but true

A reminder that you are no respecter of

our set ways and preferred arrangements

More of "afflicting the comfortable and

comforting the afflicted" stuff

We should know by now God

That this how you come

How you always come

Lowering the mighty and elevating the weak

Creating fog for the self assured

and guiding the paths of the cripple and the poor

Help us to see it, O God

Open our eyes that we may witness your salvation

May we perceive where you move and where you act

May we so act and so live

that our acts of kindness and mercy

show forth your coming

again and again

Amen

A PRAYER FOR ADVENT 2 (OT)

Malachi 3:1-20

3See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; 3he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. 4Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

2But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

How can we endure you, Lord Jesus

We cannot last long when you come

We must hide

make ourselves scarce

not be noticeable

We are afraid of your judgement

 we will be found guilty

Guilty of lust and greed

apathy and selfishness

hatred and violence

2But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

How can we face you, Lord Jesus

We will confront us with our sins and misdeeds

You will force us to look inside ourselves

see our coarseness and vulgarities

You will make us see whom we have love

and whom we have ignored

You will show us what difference we might have made

but we're too lazy and insensitive

For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; 3he will sit as a refiner and purifier

Jesus, the refiner

You will purify our thoughts

and renew our souls

You will wash away the grime of our lives

and the sleaze in our souls

Your will burn away the crust around our hearts

and wipe the tarnish from our minds

Jesus, the purifier

You will wash us from top to bottom

Cleanse us inside and out

You will bathe us in the Spirit

so we may soar like eagles

You will expunge our warlike affections

and teach us the ways of peace

He will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.

Accept our offerings we humbly bring

May we perform acts of kindness

deeds of love

moments of comfort

words of forgiveness

and offer them up to you

May our very lives

Lived in shalom

Drenched in charity

Founded on love

Be our offering to you

3See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me,

Come Lord Jesus

Come and prepare the way for us to walk

Come and prepare our hearts for love

Come and prepare our lives for discipleship

Come Lord Jesus

Come Now

Come always

Come forever

Amen

A PRAYER FOR ADVENT 1 (OT)

Jeremiah 33:14-16

New International Version (NIV)

14 “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord,

 ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.

15 “‘In those days and at that time

    I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;

    he will do what is just and right in the land.

16 In those days Judah will be saved

    and Jerusalem will live in safety.

This is the name by which it[a] will be called:

    The Lord Our Righteous Savior

We are an unrighteous people, Lord

We gamble our riches on comfort and ease

while others of your children are poor and lost

We build gated communities and mansions in which to hide

from the dangers out there

while others of your children are subjected

 to the storms and pillage

that stalks the streets

We consume and accumulate from the bounty and beauty

of your forests and rivers, grain and beast

while other of your children scrape and save

from the scraps that fall from our table

We are an unrighteous people, Lord

Forgive us,  Christ Jesus

We are an unjust people, Lord

We punish the outsiders, the alien, the stranger

and work to get them off our streets

We imprison the poor who cannot afford our "justice"

and lock them far away for their safety

We execute and destroy all who threaten our way of life

with our bombs and drones, injections and hanging trees

We are an unjust people, Lord

Forgive us, Christ Jesus

Come Jesus

The Righteous Branch of David

Disturb our comfort

Rattle our cages

Unsettle our familiar patterns

Come Jesus

The Righteous Branch of David

Establish your justice

so that the lame can walk

the blind can see

the poor are fee

and the orphan is cared for

Come Jesus

The Righteous Branch of David

Break our spears

Ground our fighters

Spread your Shalom over all the earth

Bind up the wounded

and care for those who mourn

Come Jesus

The Righteous Branch of David

Save us

Redeem us

Baptize us

and set us free

Amen

A PRAYER FOR ADVENT 1 (NT)

Luke 21:26-28, 30-31

People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.

At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near.

Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

Everything is falling apart

Nothing seems to work right anymore

Nothing we do seems to make any difference

Everything we believe is challenged

Our hopes wither away

Our dreams vanish

We thought we had it figured out

Everything was in place

Our lives were set

Then comes all this end of the world stuff

It's all over the news

We are heading over the cliff

We need more notice

to get prepared

to set our lives in order

to welcome you properly

Can't you wait just a bit longer

Wait til we have had our fill

Drank to the winds and

danced in the rain

Wait til we have lived long enough

Travelled and played

Spent and enjoyed life to the fullest

Can't you wait just a bit longer

No

You don't work on out timetable

Check our calendars

Fit into our schedule

Do you Lord

You come when you will come

You come to disrupt and overturn and agitate

You come to shake our very foundations

You come to alter our convenient arrangements

We're not ready, Lord

Ready for your Kingdom to come

Ready for your Power to take charge

Ready for your Glory to shine

When Your Kingdom comes

You will shatter the bow and break the gun

You will heal the sick and cure the lame

You will comfort the mourners and raise the dead

When Your Power comes

You will overthrow the tyrants and dethrone the kings

You will impoverish the rich and enrich the poor

You will weaken the mighty and strengthen the weak

When Your Glory comes

Your brilliance will outshine the stars and celebrities

Your radiance will blind the famous and fake

Your light will brighten the shadows and dark corners

Each week we say, "We are bold to pray...

Your Kingdom come...

For the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory

Are yours now and forever..."

Maybe we should pray your prayer with more humility

more trembling

more awareness

May we live what we pray

May we be ready

for your coming, Lord Jesus

May we be ready for

Your Kingdom to reign over us

Your Power to guard and protect us

Your Glory to enlighten and lead us

Now and forever.

Amen