Day 257 | Tuesday, 1 December 2020

Day 257 - Audio Version

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Day 257 | Tuesday, 1 December 2020

 The COVID wave is getting larger for many Americans and their families as our nation approaches nearly 14 million cases with nearly 270,000 deaths.  In Chautauqua County, there were 42 new cases over Saturday and Sunday.  As of 4:30 pm on November 30, 2020 the total cases in the county were at 1,675 with 19 deaths.  There have been 431 cases in zip 14701 with 32 active 43 cases in Lakewood, 352 in Dunkirk and 322 in Fredonia.

 If you keep an Advent calendar, today is the first day to hang an ornament or open a door.  With the beginning of the Advent season, I want to share some Advent prayers.

 A Beginning
“A voice crying in the wilderness, a word needing to be heard: Prepare the way. Get ready all hearts, create a quiet place.  Listen. Listen deep. A voice shouting in the desert: Feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, make ready the world. To receive the Good News that Christ is coming. Rejoice!”

 An Invocation for Advent
“O God, who loved the world so much that you sent your Son, Christ, to reveal the height, breadth, length and depth of your love, we come to worship you.  Prepare our hearts that we may rightly approach your throne of grace and reverently receive your revelation for us. Amen.”

 A Prayer of Confession for Advent
“So soon, God, too soon. We are hardly picked up from Thanksgiving, and here it is Advent with Christmas coming soon. So soon. It is hard to shift gears so fast. We are not ready. Where did the time go? How could the year pass so soon?

Yet, it is into such a world as this and such a time as this that you choose to enter. Again, and again, you visit us in the darkest times of life. Again, and again, you surprise us in the midst of hectic schedules and frantic lives.

Holy God help us keep alert in this Advent season. Help us be ready to see you in the midst of ordinary tasks. Help us be ready to slow down for prayer, for children, for our family and friends. Help us be ready to stand up for peace and justice, for Jesus comes to bring new life to us and our world. O God help us be ready to receive you again. Amen.”

 An Advent Prayer
“In this private place, in this quiet moment, let us catch our breath, connect to your Spirit and let love, joy and hope take root in our hearts. Walk with us these days in joyful anticipation of your birth. Amen.”

 A Benediction for Advent
“Christ has come in the past, he is coming today, and he will come again at the end of time. May you go through this season surrounded by the power, the presence and the peace of our everlasting Lord.

Hymn - O come, O come, Emmanuel

1.   “O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.  Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.”

 Antiphon 1 “O EMMANUEL, our King and Lawgiver, the Expected of the nations and their Savior: Come and save us, O Lord, our God.”