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