Day 278 | Tuesday, 22 December 2020

Day 278 - Audio Version

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Day 278 | Tuesday,  22 December 2020

Perhaps like the congregation’s I served you are ready for my Advent writings to come to an end.  Well, you will get your wish on the 24th.
 
Advent
“Holy and healing God send us Jesus once again. We are still bound by sin and fears; our world still knows the grief of children dying from hunger and young men dying in battle. Holy God, we long for an unending stream of hope and a deep reservoir of joy.

Holy and just God send us Jesus once again. Deliver us from petty squabbles, bruising busyness, hardened hearts. Rule in our hearts with peace, and reign in our world with compassion.

Holy and loving God send us Jesus once again. Let him be born in the words we say, revealed in the deeds we do, made alive in the care we extend. In every heart and nation, let songs of praise arise.”

 An Advent Hymn – “Lo, How a rose E’er Blooming” words: stanzas 1-2, 15th century German; translated by Theodore Baker, 1894; stanza 3 from The Hymnal, 1940.

1.   “Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming from tender stem hath sprung!  Of Jesse’s lineage coming, as those of old have sung.  It came, a floweret bright, amid the cold of winter, when half spent was the night.”

2.   “Isaiah ‘twas foretold it, the rose I have in mind; with Mary we behold it, the Virgin Mother kind.  To show God’s love aright, she bore to us a Savior, when half spent was the night.”

3.   “O Flower, whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air, dispel inglorious splendor the darkness everywhere.  True man yet very God, from sin and death now save us, and share our every load.”

 An Advent Prayer of Confession:
“God of angel songs and hidden miracles wing your way into our world, for we are in need of your presence. We have been caught up in so much that has not been normal this season including worry and fears. We have lost patience and misplaced hope.

God of heavenly choruses and humble beginnings wing your way into our hearts. Let us know a peace that calms unrealistic expectations. Let us be lifted up by angels' song and see with new perspective what is truly important.  Let love grow, for after all the presents are opened, what we need is an over-whelming sense of amazing grace.

God of angel songs and humble miracles wing your way into our lives and fill us with joy.

In the name of the Child of Bethlehem. Amen.”
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John 1 Story of the Word CEB
1 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
2 The Word was with God in the beginning.   
3 Everything came into being through the Word, and without the Word nothing came into being. What came into being 4through the Word was
, and the life was the light for all people.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.
9 The true light that shines on all people was coming into the world.
10 The light was in the world, and the world came into being through the light, but the world didn’t recognize the light.
11 The light came to his own people, and his own people didn’t welcome him.
12 But those who did welcome him, those who believed in his name, he authorized to become God’s children,
13born not from blood nor from human desire or passion, but born from God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his home among us. We have seen his glory, glory like that of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.