kingdom of God – Plagal Cadence

O Lord our God,
We turn to you in this penitential season of Lent acknowledging the brokenness of our world and the little ways in which we find ourselves contributing to that brokenness each day.

We ask for your guidance
    in learning how to walk as Christ walked,
    how to love our neighbors and our planet as ourselves,
    and how to be the Church in a world
        that has been harmed so often by Christians.

refrain: Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
or: Lord, in your mercy— Hear our prayer.

We pray for our bishops,
    and for the leaders of all denominations,
that they may find themselves ever more open
    to your Spirit’s work through them,
    and may lead as you lead.

[Refrain]

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Liturgy, Poetry, Prayers

Prayer of Invocation: Eastertide

April 21, 2017December 5, 2019 lionsong

Scripture of the Day: Psalm 16

Love divine, all loves excelling,
Come down upon us this day and fill our hearts with the joy of your resurrection.

Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit,
Quiet our anxious hearts and remind us that your love does not rely on our perfection, nor our worth on our own achievements.

Come, Almighty, to deliver,
Deliver us from the chains that still bind us, from systems of oppression, from hate and fear.

Finish, then, thy new creation,
Sanctify us by your loving grace to build your Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

Prayers

Prayer After Communion: Eastertide

April 21, 2017December 5, 2019 lionsong

Life-giving God, we thank you that you were willing to dwell among us,
     to be born one of us, to live our life and die our death.
We praise you that the limits of our mortal life do not limit you, O God,
     that you are able to bring life out of death
     and newness out of human destruction.
We thank you for feeding us with this bread and cup,
     by which your disciples recognized you on the day of your resurrection,
     and for claiming us as children and heirs of your eternal Kingdom.
And now give us the strength and grace to do the work you have given us to do,
     to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart,
In the name of our risen Lord,
Amen.

Lectionary Year A, Prayers, Thoughts on Scripture

Advent I: Hope

December 3, 2013December 5, 2019 lionsong

Welcome to the first post of my three-year project! Please feel free to comment if you so desire; I am happy to hear your thoughts! (See the How It Works page and the Comment Policy page for more details.)

Romans 13: 11-14

We begin the Advent season with hope, for that is the first Advent candle. Our hope is twofold: this season at once invites us into the past and looks forward toward the future. We await the coming Messiah–both his birth as a child in Bethlehem and his return to establish his kingdom.

In today’s reading, Paul writes to the church in Rome of Jesus’ impending return. He contrasts day and night, light and dark, to convey the cosmic importance of such an event. The dark of night is over and the light of day is nearly here. In this season of Advent, we restart the cycle in which we experience Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection each year. Each year we wait, for far longer than our waiting period of Advent, for Jesus to arrive once more, just as the disciples spent the days and years after the first Pentecost awaiting Jesus’ return. Each year, on Christmas, our hope is fulfilled, and the light of the world is born among us.

During the season of Advent, “salvation is nearer to us than” it has been all summer while we waited. In only a few weeks, Christ’s arrival will doubly seal the plan of salvation as our hope for the holy child is fulfilled, thus metaphorically fulfilling our hope for the coming Son of Man, whose return we still continuously await.

“Now is the moment for [us] to wake from sleep.” We have spent the last few months in the consistent rhythm of the Season after Pentecost, and now we are awakened for our hope draws near. Advent is the new year for the church. It is a time not only for waiting, but for realizing those things to which we have fallen asleep in the past year, be it a loved one or a stranger, a hungry child or a homeless man, a delusion, an addiction, a law that forbids love. It is a time to awake and speak to the forgotten and the ignored, the swept-aside and the disdained. It is a time for us to renew our belief and our commitment to God. It is time to hope for better things.

But here’s the catch: hope is active. Sure, we can sit back, relax, and hope for the best, but the truth is that a passive hope is simply a wish. True hope is a conviction that something can be done and a desire to make it happen. It is the recognition that God works through natural means just as much as he works in miracles. We are the means by which prayer is answered. We are the ones who are commanded to act. We are the ones who must prepare the way of the Lord and of his coming kingdom. We are the ones who keep the hope alive.

Hope of the world,
Forgive us when we have fallen asleep to those who need hope. Teach us as we await your birth and your return to live our lives in hope and love and to serve you in the world that we may be the means by which you answer prayer. May your light shine through us that all may see the glory of the one who comes to earth, both Son of God and Son of Man. Let your kingdom come. Amen.