Читать книгу Just in Time! Prayers for Advent and Christmas - David N. Mosser - Страница 7

Achurch that "prays together, stays together" goes a variation on theme. The book in your hands is an attempt to formulate prayers that speak to God on behalf of God's people. The content of the prayers contained herein is of all kinds. Some are pastoral prayers, some are prayers of confession, with some benedictions and words of pardon included for good measure. Despite the differences among the prayers they do have a few things in common. First of all, they are corporate prayers in the sense that they are to be prayed by or over the community of faith. These are prayers of the people.

Second, all of the worship materials in this little book have to do with the liturgical or worship seasons of Advent and Christmas. These two seasons begin the new church year and offer a worship sense of beginning anew. For many modern folk, the season of Christmas—and most especially Christmas Eve—may be one of only two holy days (the other being Easter, of course) that people enter into a sanctuary to worship. Therefore, these Advent and Christmas worship prayers may be a good deal of the spiritual nutrition that many receive for a year. Yet the attraction of Christmas and Easter is undeniable for many in our culture. People still want to hear the good news!

The four Sundays of Advent address the reason that people like us need a messiah in the first place. Advent is the season of Christ's coming. In these weeks of Advent, God speaks to God's people by way of prophecy, anticipation, and expectation. Advent is also about waiting. For what exactly are we waiting?

We are waiting for Jesus. Advent means the appearance or coming of the Lord Jesus according to New Testament theology. As a result, Paul writes in his letters about the two comings of the Lord. The first coming of the Lord is what Christians celebrate when they observe the festival of Christmas. The Second Advent is what the church calls the parousia, or the so-called Second Coming of Christ. This theological doctrine addresses Jesus' return to end history as human beings understand it. The Second Coming also ushers in what some Hebrew prophets call "the day of the Lord." So as we prepare for either advent, first or second, we wait and this is part of the spiritual discipline we use in Advent.

Paul reminds the church at Philippi that the Lord will protect and fulfill the Lord's promise on this day. Thus, the theological importance of the Advent of Christ and Christmas that follows has deep implications for our faith. The coming of Christ is a tangible symbol of the fulfillment of God's millennial promises to God's people.

To bring all this theology back to liturgical earth we might suggest that when life is tough on Christians, then the best Christian defense is to remember what God has done. One of the most faithful ways to remember is to rehearse and practice telling the great stories of our faith. This is in part what we do in worship. Liturgy or worship is a "work of the people" as we gather to hear and celebrate what God has done for us. But that is not all. We also celebrate what God is doing today and what God WILL DO for God's people in the future. All this celebration we do while waiting, and it is focused in our divine worship of God. To remember these activities and promises of God is to be filled with joy.

God promises to do for God's people everything that these persons cannot or will not do for themselves. These divine gifts provide human creatures with every reason for joy and rejoicing. We use worship to rejoice, celebrate, and thank God among other things. To be filled with the promises of God is to realize that joy is in us. As a preacher friend of ours fondly says: "Joy is not a thing; it is in us." In other words, we do not grab for joy, rather joy grabs us. It is for this reason that Paul can say—and mean it—"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). We, as Christians, rejoice because we know the source of our joy is not within us. Our joy comes from God.

As you contemplate and use the prayers in this book for worship in the congregation-—and perhaps in your own devotional life—know that worship is a way to wait for the glory of the Lord. Worship is a way we express thanksgiving to God and our joy about what God does for us and through us in Christ. In Advent we worship as we wait.

Going through the motions is not what God wants for us when we wait. Rather, God wants us to be about the business of faithful waiting as we disciples fill the sacred time for the return of the Lord. What the Lord desires for Israel and for us is to focus on the ultimate time and meaning in God's world—a world in which we are merely guests.

So, what does faithful waiting look like? First, we wait in prayerful anticipation. We pray and praise. We pray and confess. We pray and give thanks. We pray and petition. Faithful waiting also involves worship. We sing and light the candles. We proclaim God's word and respond with offering and affirmation. We also fall on our knees at the communion rail, hoping against hope that when God does indeed send the Messiah we will be ready. Can you watch and wait? Can you stay awake? Are you ready to come home for the Holy-days?

There are many ways to put distance between ourselves and others. We can do so in pious or impious ways, but either way the distance is there. Advent is God's final and decisive attempt to overcome the distance that human beings have created through their willful sin and disobedience. The sign of God's attempt for intimacy is in the phrase "Immanuel"—God with us!

Worship and praying the liturgy are a few ways we answer Jesus' question: "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:8).