preparations

visit with us, too

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
​The Meeting of Mary and Elisabeth, Bloch 1866, wikimedia commons
 
Lord Jesus, this advent season we remember
  the visitation of Mary and Elizabeth
    both women miraculously pregnant.
We delight as we recall John the Baptist leaping for joy
    inside Elizabeth’s womb!

Make plans to visit with us too,
   that we might be filled with joyful expressions!
Impart within us the same awareness that John had
    that we might always sense your presence.
Bless us with the same knowledge
    that you are truly the lamb of God
        who takes away the sin of the world;
    that you are the Messiah, and we are not;
    and that you must increase, and we must decrease.

Invite us to join with John and prepare for your coming.

Eric Mathews
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Luke 1:41-44

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
    the baby leaped in her womb,
    and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
In a loud voice she exclaimed:
    Blessed are you among women,
        and blessed is the child you will bear!
    But why am I so favored,
        that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
    As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
        the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

_____________________________

When have you rejoiced in God’s presence most vividly?
What aspect of your life needs to decrease 
    so that the influence of Jesus can increase?

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Send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Savault Chapel, France, Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
 
Lord Jesus,
Master of both the light and the darkness,
    send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas.
We who have so much to do
    seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day.
We who are anxious over many things
    look forward to your coming among us.
We who are blessed in so many ways
    long for the complete joy of your kingdom.
We whose hearts are heavy
    seek the joy of your presence.
We are your people,
    walking in darkness,
    yet seeking the light.
To you we say, “Come Lord Jesus!”

Henri Nouwen 1932 – 1996 Dutch Catholic priest and author
source
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Isaiah 42:6, 16

I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;
    I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
    to be a covenant for the people
    and a light for the Gentiles

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,
    along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light before them
    and make the rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do;
    I will not forsake them.
 
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What is one way that you can prepare your heart this Advent season? 

Waiting in the Wilderness

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
 
 
​Wilderness is the place of Moses,

    a place of no longer captive and not yet free,
    of letting go and learning new living.
Wilderness is the place of Elijah,
    a place of silence and loneliness,
    of awaiting the voice of God and finding clarity.
 Wilderness is the place of John,
    a place of repenting,
    of taking first steps on the path of peace.
Wilderness is the place of Jesus,
    a place of preparation,
    of getting ready for the reckless life of faith.

We thank you, God, for the wilderness.
Wilderness is our place.
As we wait for the land of promise,
    teach us the ways of new living,
    lead us to where we hear your word most clearly,
    renew us and clear out the wastelands of our lives,
    prepare us for life in the awareness of Christ’s coming
        when the desert will sing
        and the wilderness will blossom as the rose.

Francis Brienen, United Reformed Church, UK
The Complete Book of Christian Prayers

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Isaiah 40:3-5

A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
    make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
    and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
    and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
    and all flesh shall see it together,
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

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preparing to pray

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Photo by Olivia Snow on Unsplash
 
 
Enable me, O God, to collect and compose my thoughts 
    before an immediate approach to you in prayer.
May I be careful to have my mind in order
    when I take upon myself the honour to speak
    to the Sovereign Lord of the universe,
    remembering that upon the temper of my soul
    depends, in very great measure, my success.
You are infinitely too great to be trifled with,
    to wise to be imposed on by a mock devotion,
    and abhor a sacrifice without a heart.
Help me to entertain an habitual sense of your perfections,
    as an admirable help against cold and formal performances.
Save me from engaging in rash and precipitate prayers
    and from abrupt breaking away 
    to follow business or pleasure
    as though I had never prayed.
 
Susanna Wesley, 1669-1742, mother of John & Charles Wesley, founders of Methodism
 
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The Lord is righteous in all his ways
    and kind in all his works.
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
    he also hears their cry and saves them.

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We prepare to welcome Christ Jesus, Messiah

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Rainbow in Bethelehem by Ami Tesler on Unsplash  
 
In this season of expectation
We prepare to welcome Christ Jesus, Messiah
Into the bustle of our lives
and the hard to find moments of solitude
We prepare to welcome Christ Jesus, Messiah
Into our homes and situations
along with friends and families
We prepare to welcome Christ Jesus, Messiah
Into our hearts, and those often hidden parts of our lives
We prepare to welcome Christ Jesus, Messiah
For beneath the surface of your story
is an inescapable fact
You entered this world
as vulnerable as any one of us
in order to nail that vulnerability to the cross.
Our fears, our insecurities and our sins
all that can separate us from God
exchanged by your Grace for Love.
We cannot comprehend the reasoning
only marvel that Salvation comes to us
through a baby born in a stable,
and reaches out to a world in need.

In this season of anticipation
We prepare to welcome Christ Jesus, Messiah
 
John Birch, Methodist Lay Preacher and worship leader in Wales
 
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As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
    make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
    and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
  and the crooked shall become straight,
    and the rough places shall become level ways,
  and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

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to prepare for your coming

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Image by StockSnap from Pixabay  
 
Christ our Advent hope,
bare brown trees,
etched dark across a winter sky,
leaves fallen, rustling,
ground hard and cold,
remind us to prepare for your coming;
remind us to prepare for the time
when the soles of your feet will touch the ground,
when you will become one of us
to be one with us.
 
Karen McIlhappa, 1938 – 2002, Scottish minister of the Iona Community
 
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And it shall be said,
“Build up, build up, prepare the way,
    remove every obstruction from my people’s way.”
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
    who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
    and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
    and to revive the heart of the contrite.

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