To make room for Christmas Eve prep, we are standardizing some re-usable worship elements. One is our “Prayers of the People.” Here is what I have for the four Sundays of Advent:
We come before God with our questions and our concerns, our joys and our sorrows.
Let us pray.
Most Amazing God,
You speak light,
holy data that takes form as all of Creation,
billions of flickering lights unfolding and expanding.
And there,
circling one of those lights you speak into existence,
are lives, flickering and beautiful, unfolding and expanding,
the green grass, the grazing sheep, the watchful shepherds.
And there, in that moment when love hung in the balance,
when times felt dark, light’s promise smothered by human fear,
you spoke love again,
as raw as a newborn’s cry.
Speak love into our moment.
Speak joy and hope and peace.
Speak mystery and truth.
Speak as we speak,
Bringing before you, our one author and source,
these our joys and concerns.
(Pause)
Because you are one with us in Christ,
Your Word spoken into this world,
we boldly pray as He taught us, saying:
Our Father…