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ОглавлениеWAITING...THE SEASON OF ADVENT
We’re not very good at waiting. If you need evidence, see how early the mince pies arrive on the supermarket shelves. Some supermarkets now stock them all year round. Why? Because we don’t want to wait for Christmas.
And yet the season of Advent – the four weeks leading up to Christmas Eve – is all about waiting. And watching. And reflecting. Amid the frantic shopping and the laden lists and the parties and the present wrapping, we’re asked to pause for a moment to think. We’re asked to prepare ourselves, not just practically but spiritually, to welcome the new-born Christ child.
We’re asked to look past the outward trappings of the preparations for Christmas – to look at ourselves, our own lives. And to see them in the light of the God who is to be born in a messy stable, turning all our values upside down. And the God who will come again at the end of time to ask us how we did.
THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT
The Collect for Advent Sunday
Almighty God,
give us grace that we may cast away
the works of darkness,
and put upon us the armour of light,
now in the time of this mortal life,
in which thy Son Jesus Christ
came to visit us in great humility;
that in the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty
to judge both the quick and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal,
through him who liveth and reigneth
with thee and the Holy Ghost,
now and ever. Amen.
The Book of Common Prayer
Lo, he comes with clouds descending,
once for favoured sinners slain;
thousand thousand saints attending
swell the triumph of his train:
Alleluia!
God appears on earth to reign.
Yea, Amen, let all adore thee,
high on thy eternal throne;
Saviour, take the power and glory,
claim the kingdom for thine own:
Alleluia!
Thou shalt reign, and thou alone.
Charles Wesley (1707–88)
and John Cennick (1718–55)
Our heavenly Father,
as once again we prepare for Christmas,
help us to find time in our busy lives
for quiet thought and prayer;
that we may reflect upon the wonder of your love
and allow the story of the Saviour’s birth
to penetrate our hearts and minds.
So may our joy be deeper,
our worship more real,
and our lives worthier of all that you have done for us
through the coming of your Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Frank Colquhoun (1909–97)
God of Abraham and Sarah
and all the patriarchs of old,
you are our Father too.
Your love is revealed to us in Jesus Christ,
Son of God and Son of David.
Help us in preparing to celebrate his birth
to make our hearts ready for your Holy Spirit
to make his home among us.
We ask this through Jesus Christ,
the light who is coming into the world. Amen.
Common Worship: Times and Seasons
Heavenly Father, you have created a universe of light:
forgive us when we return to darkness.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you are the light of the world:
cleanse and heal our blinded sight.
Christ, have mercy.
Holy Spirit, you give us light in our hearts:
renew us in faith and love.
Lord, have mercy.
Common Worship: Times and Seasons
You keep us waiting.
You, the God of all time,
want us to wait
for the right time in which to discover
who we are, where we must go,
who will be with us, and what we must do.
So thank you . . . for the waiting time.
Iona Community Worship Book
Lord,
I turn my thoughts
to you.
Within the whirlwind of my day
I stop
and think of you.
It’s far too easy to forget you
in the busyness and bustle
of the day,
as other pressures crowd and fill my mind.
And when I pause
I find myself
astonished
that whilst your closeness has been crowded out
yet still
you have been there,
your steady love surrounding me.
Hello again, Lord.
Pat Marsh
THE SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT
God our Father,
you spoke to the prophets of old
of a Saviour who would bring peace.
You helped them to spread the joyful message
of his coming kingdom.
Help us, as we prepare to celebrate his birth,
to share with those around us
the good news of your power and love.
We ask this through Jesus Christ,
the light who is coming into the world. Amen.
Common Worship: Times and Seasons
We are brighter than a thousand suns,
cleverer than two thousand years,
all power belongs to us,
except the power to make peace:
except that there is an ancient darkness of our hearts
and a rage that steals our sanity.
God forgive us
and let true light shine on us
and your world.
Bob Warwicker
With love and compassion,
come, Lord Jesus.
With judgement and mercy,
come, Lord Jesus.
In power and glory,
come, Lord Jesus.
In wisdom and truth,
come, Lord Jesus.
Common Worship: Times and Seasons
For the darkness of waiting
of not knowing what is to come
of staying ready and quiet and attentive,
we praise you O God:
For the darkness and the light
are both alike to you.
For the darkness of staying silent
for the terror of having nothing to say
and for the greater terror
of needing to say nothing,
we praise you O God:
For the darkness and the light
are both alike to you.
For the darkness of loving
in which it is safe to surrender
to let go of our self-protection
and to stop holding back our desire,
we praise you O God:
For the darkness and the light
are both alike to you.
For the darkness of choosing
when you give us the moment
to speak, and act, and change,
and we cannot know what we have set in motion,
but we still have to take the risk,
we praise you O God:
For the darkness and the light
are both alike to you.
For the darkness of hoping
in a world which longs for you,
for the wrestling and the labouring of all creation
for wholeness and justice and freedom,
we praise you O God:
For the darkness and the light
are both alike to you.
Janet Morley
Lord Jesus Christ,
your world awaits you.
In the longing of the persecuted for justice;
in the longing of the poor for prosperity;
in the longing of the privileged
for riches greater than wealth;
in the longing of our hearts for a better life;
and in the song of your Church,
expectation is ever present.
O come, Lord, desire behind our greatest needs.
O come, Lord, liberator of humanity.
O come, Lord, O come, Immanuel. Amen.
Book of Common Order of the Church of Scotland
The night is far spent, and the day is at hand:
let us therefore cast off the works of darkness,
and let us put on the armour of light.
Romans 13.12 AV
At the setting of the sun,
