Righteous God,
On this Sunday of Hope,
as we look ahead
in the midst of a dark wait,
we anticipate Your Justice.
Let us view that Justice
as it is, not as we would have it.
Your Justice looks different from ours,
Your Justice brings restoration
and makes everything right
under You.
In this long wait of Advent,
this seemingly unending night,
guide our anticipatory eyes to the stars
to seek Your unmissable announcement
that You will be arriving.
Soon.
Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
Trustworthy Lord,
You will not let us be put to shame.
We can take You at Your word.
We can rely on Your forgetfulness,
Your selective memory
that keeps no record of our wrongs.
We remember that
You came to us humbly.
Through the writings of the prophets
You gave us hints of Your trajectory,
but we see the connected dots
only in hindsight.
Therefore, as we wait in expectation
this Advent season,
let us not look too far ahead.
Let us not plan out our lives;
let us look back to find
Your hand, guiding us here,
to this moment. Shameless.
Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
Patient Father,
This is the treadmill time of Advent,
when we can fall into fatigue and weariness,
when we are more prone to fear, to worry,
to anxiety, to depression, to cynicism;
when cries of “How long, Lord?”
turn to sighs of “Whatever.”
We thank You for seeing us anyway,
for calling us blessed, stable,
hope-filled, secure in You.
We thank You that for You,
there is no beginning, no ending,
there is only Now.
Where we have small hope,
we offer it to You in humility,
knowing You can multiply it
to feed multitudes.
Where we have large hope,
we offer it to You in gratitude,
knowing You gave it to us
to share with all we encounter.
Grow our hope this morning,
that we might distribute it
and light up the darkness of Advent.
We wait,
like You,
patient and expectant.
All this we ask through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Lord have mercy,
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy,
Christ have mercy.