11.27.2005
It's the first Sunday in Advent, so here is the Tearfund "Be An Angel" Online Advent Calendar and the devotion that arrived in my inbox:
Prepare Your Heart
Sunday, November 27, 2005
FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT
OUR ships sail guided by fluctuating priorities, goals often missed.
We walk in a world touched by despair, among rudderless people.
Give us hope and we will be filled with your purpose.
Pain from the land of Long Ago presses its burden deep upon our backs. We live in a world shaken by discontent, disharmony, disregard.
Give us peace that we may offer your shalom.
Mirrors reflect likenesses that we have created, a far cry from the image of God. We dwell amid those with a diminished reverence for that which grows and breathes.
Give us life and we will call on your name. Call our names and we will turn God-ward, confident that you will be our compass, relieve our burdens, and restore our images. Amen.
PRAYER
God of Mercy, we repent of each act and word that distorts or diminishes any part of creation and we ask that you remember our sin no more. Bring us to fullness of life as we await the birth of the Christ Child. Amen.
- Cynthia Langston Kirk, Alive Now Magazine
Prepare Your Heart
Sunday, November 27, 2005
FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT
OUR ships sail guided by fluctuating priorities, goals often missed.
We walk in a world touched by despair, among rudderless people.
Give us hope and we will be filled with your purpose.
Pain from the land of Long Ago presses its burden deep upon our backs. We live in a world shaken by discontent, disharmony, disregard.
Give us peace that we may offer your shalom.
Mirrors reflect likenesses that we have created, a far cry from the image of God. We dwell amid those with a diminished reverence for that which grows and breathes.
Give us life and we will call on your name. Call our names and we will turn God-ward, confident that you will be our compass, relieve our burdens, and restore our images. Amen.
 | ADVENT CANDLE LIGHTING No longer will we be conformed to every whim and enticement the world offers. No longer will we be held captive by narcissism and apathy. This first candle of Advent is an invitation to leave our old ways and follow God's path. We light this beacon symbolizing pivotal moments of receiving our direction from God. |
God of Mercy, we repent of each act and word that distorts or diminishes any part of creation and we ask that you remember our sin no more. Bring us to fullness of life as we await the birth of the Christ Child. Amen.
- Cynthia Langston Kirk, Alive Now Magazine