waiting for Jesus – an Advent-season-prayer-a-day, Day 22 (and final), the Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 24, 2017

Note: Advent, from the Latin, adventus, “coming”, is the Christian season of preparation for Jesus’ birth, the heart of the Christmas celebration, and, according to scripture and the Christian creeds, his second appearance on some future, unknown day and also according to scripture and Christian tradition, his daily coming through the Holy Spirit. Hence, the theme of waiting for Jesus is Advent’s clarion call.

O Lord Jesus, I wait this day and all days for the wonder of Your Waiting; You Whose tolerance in the timing of Your second coming is meant, I believe…I know to allow me to repent.(1)

O Lord Jesus, ever regarding Your patience as salvation,(2) may I not…make me not resist the loving labor of Your Spirit in bringing me to peace with You that I, this day and alway, may…will rejoice to behold Your appearing.

Amen.

 

Footnotes:
(1) See Romans 2.4
(2) See 2 Peter 3.15

waiting for Jesus – an Advent-season-prayer-a-day, Day 21, Saturday, December 23, 2017

Note: Advent, from the Latin, adventus, “coming”, is the Christian season of preparation for Jesus’ birth, the heart of the Christmas celebration, and, according to scripture and the Christian creeds, his second appearance on some future, unknown day and also according to scripture and Christian tradition, his daily coming through the Holy Spirit. Hence, the theme of waiting for Jesus is Advent’s clarion call.

O Lord Jesus, I wait this day for the wonder of Your Wholeness; You in Whom “the fullness of the deity dwells bodily.”(1)

Though made in the imago Dei, I, in my sinfulness and sins, my scattered thoughts and feelings, my self-centered intentions and actions, sully the glorious semblance of divinity in which I have been created.

O Lord Jesus, by Your Spirit, I pray You refashion my mind and my heart, my soul and my spirit, my being entire that Your Apostle’s word may be true for me, will be true in me; that I come to the measure of Your full stature.(2)

Amen.

 

Footnotes:
(1) Colossians 2.9
(2) Ephesians 4.13

waiting for Jesus – an Advent-season-prayer-a-day, Day 20, Friday, December 22, 2017

Note: Advent, from the Latin, adventus, “coming”, is the Christian season of preparation for Jesus’ birth, the heart of the Christmas celebration, and, according to scripture and the Christian creeds, his second appearance on some future, unknown day and also according to scripture and Christian tradition, his daily coming through the Holy Spirit. Hence, the theme of waiting for Jesus is Advent’s clarion call.

O Lord Jesus, I wait this day for the wonder of Your Worship.

Thus, You spake to Photina,(1) the Samaritan woman at the well: “The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship Him.(2)

O Lord Jesus, by Your Spirit, let my worship of You ne’er be tied to time or bound to space or place. Rather let my prayers, verily, my being of adoration and praise and confession and thanksgiving and petition and intercession and oblation be every word of my mouth and every deed of my doing that I may be…that I will be wholly Yours. Amen.

 

Footnotes:
(1) As I noted previously (waiting for Jesus – an Advent-season-prayer-a-day, Day 8, the Second Sunday of Advent, December 10, 2017), though Scripture gives no name to the Samaritan woman who encountered Jesus at the well (John 4.5-42), Eastern Orthodox tradition calls her Photina (or Photine), from the Greek, phos, “light”, meaning, “the enlightened one”; for she, in her testimony to her fellow Samaritans, led many to believe in Jesus as “the Savior of the world” (John 4.39).
(2) John 4.23

waiting for Jesus – an Advent-season-prayer-a-day, Day 19, Thursday, December 21, 2017

Note: Advent, from the Latin, adventus, “coming”, is the Christian season of preparation for Jesus’ birth, the heart of the Christmas celebration, and, according to scripture and the Christian creeds, his second appearance on some future, unknown day and also according to scripture and Christian tradition, his daily coming through the Holy Spirit. Hence, the theme of waiting for Jesus is Advent’s clarion call.

O Lord Jesus, I wait this day, the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, for the wonder, again, of Your Weal.(1)

Thomas dared to doubt the testimony of his brother and sister disciples, who, beholding Your resurrected glory, proclaimed, “We have seen the Lord!” Thomas dared to profess, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”(2) Yet, when confronted by Your appearing, Thomas, needing neither to put his finger in the mark of the nails nor his hand in Your side, dared to confess, “My Lord and my God!”(3)

O Lord Jesus, by Your Spirit, make me bold in my doubt that I, trusting in Your appearing may…will deepen in faith. Amen.

 

Footnotes:
(1) See my previous posts regarding Weal: waiting for Jesus – an Advent-season-prayer-a-day, Day 11, Wednesday, December 13, 2017 and waiting for Jesus – an Advent-season-prayer-a-day, Day 16, Wednesday, December 18, 2017
(2) John 20.25
(3) John 20.28

waiting for Jesus – an Advent-season-prayer-a-day, Day 18, Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Note: Advent, from the Latin, adventus, “coming”, is the Christian season of preparation for Jesus’ birth, the heart of the Christmas celebration, and, according to scripture and the Christian creeds, his second appearance on some future, unknown day and also according to scripture and Christian tradition, his daily coming through the Holy Spirit. Hence, the theme of waiting for Jesus is Advent’s clarion call.

O Lord Jesus, I wait this day for the wonder of Your Wonder; that is, Your holiness, again!(1)

God spake unto His servant, saying, “Moses! Moses!” further saying, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground” and Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.(2) Yet You, O Lord Jesus, in the flesh of Your incarnate divinity, hath brought God near, yea, verily, face to face.

O Lord Jesus, by Your Spirit, may I, without fear, behold Your holiness in every face of family and friend and stranger, of women and men and girls and boys, of aged and young, of gay and lesbian and transgender, of rich and poor, of well and infirm, and, on some day and at some times, perhaps the hardest for me, in the mirror.

Amen.

 

Footnotes:
(1) See my post of yesterday regarding Wonder: waiting for Jesus – an Advent-season-prayer-a-day, Day 17, Wednesday, December 19, 2017
(2) See Exodus 3.5-6

waiting for Jesus – an Advent-season-prayer-a-day, Day 17, Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Note: Advent, from the Latin, adventus, “coming”, is the Christian season of preparation for Jesus’ birth, the heart of the Christmas celebration, and, according to scripture and the Christian creeds, his second appearance on some future, unknown day and also according to scripture and Christian tradition, his daily coming through the Holy Spirit. Hence, the theme of waiting for Jesus is Advent’s clarion call.

O Lord Jesus, I wait this day for the wonder of Your Wonder; that is, Your holiness.

Moses beheld the bush that blazed, but was not burned. Yet only when he turned aside to look at this great sight did God speak unto him, saying, “Moses! Moses!”(1)

I wonder, O Lord Jesus, You Who in Your incarnate divinity already hath made Your holy Otherness another-ness with us, where and when and how do You appear, reaching across the chasm between heaven and earth? By faith, yes, I trust that You do, yet I must ask where and when and how and how many times have I missed You; for I, too busy in my thoughts and deeds, too blind of sight, too blunt of mind, failed to turn aside to look?

O Lord Jesus, by Your Spirit, open my mind, quicken my heart, stir my soul, startle my spirit that I may not…that I will not miss You again. Amen.

 

Footnote:
(1) See Exodus 3.1-4

waiting for Jesus – an Advent-season-prayer-a-day, Day 16, Monday, December 18, 2017

Note: Advent, from the Latin, adventus, “coming”, is the Christian season of preparation for Jesus’ birth, the heart of the Christmas celebration, and, according to scripture and the Christian creeds, his second appearance on some future, unknown day and also according to scripture and Christian tradition, his daily coming through the Holy Spirit. Hence, the theme of waiting for Jesus is Advent’s clarion call.

O Lord Jesus, I wait this day for the wonder of Your Weal again,(1) for I have another thought, verily, two other thoughts about Your Wounds.

The first another thought is of my wounds, my world-weary wounds – some, the festering sores of hurts I have endured from the hands of others and from the fates of life’s chance and circumstance and some, yes, self-inflicted by mine own false choices that flew in the face of all that I know and believe is good and right and true. My wearisome wounds that weigh me down. My wearisome wounds, when, unbidden and unwanted, occupying my attention, from which there is scant relief and release.

The second another thought, O Lord Jesus, is that Your Wounds, those marks in Your flesh of Your suffering and dying, rose from the grave with You, remaining on Your blessed resurrection Body, clear and visible.(2)

I wonder, I pray, O Lord Jesus, whether bearing alway my wounds is a mark of my life’s experience ne’er to be denied, even more, a mark of my learning meant to be remembered and retained, still more, a mark of my salvation in You, verily, Your Power made perfect in my weakness.

O Lord Jesus, if this, if any of this be true, then I rejoice in my wounds, ne’er to repeat them or deepen them, but rather…but only to claim the victory of vulnerability in You. Amen.

 

Footnotes:
(1) See my previous post regarding Weal: waiting for Jesus – an Advent-season-prayer-a-day, Day 11, Wednesday, December 13, 2017
(2) Although none of the canonical gospel accounts explicitly state that Jesus, after his resurrection, bore on his body the marks of his suffering and death, John implies it: Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord (John 20.19b-20).

waiting for Jesus – an Advent-season-prayer-a-day, Day 15, the Third Sunday of Advent, December 17, 2017

Note: Advent, from the Latin, adventus, “coming”, is the Christian season of preparation for Jesus’ birth, the heart of the Christmas celebration, and, according to scripture and the Christian creeds, his second appearance on some future, unknown day and also according to scripture and Christian tradition, his daily coming through the Holy Spirit. Hence, the theme of waiting for Jesus is Advent’s clarion call.

O Lord Jesus, I wait this day for the wonder of Your Witness, in the words of Your lips and in the works of Your life, to Your irrepressible, indefatigable, unconditional, unchangeable Love. O Lord Jesus, by Your Spirit, lead me, guide me that I, more and more, day by day, may…will respond to You and Your irresistible Love by resting my weary and, yea, my warring soul in You.(1) Amen.

 

Footnote:
(1) Here, I think of the words of George Matheson (1882):
O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

waiting for Jesus – an Advent-season-prayer-a-day, Day 14, Saturday, December 16, 2017

Note: Advent, from the Latin, adventus, “coming”, is the Christian season of preparation for Jesus’ birth, the heart of the Christmas celebration, and, according to scripture and the Christian creeds, his second appearance on some future, unknown day and also according to scripture and Christian tradition, his daily coming through the Holy Spirit. Hence, the theme of waiting for Jesus is Advent’s clarion call.

O Lord Jesus, I wait this day for the wonder of Your Weakness; You Who demonstrated Your power through Your broken Body on the cross of Your dying,(1) You Who responded to Your Apostle’s cry of anguish, comforting him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness,” cheering him to “boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me!”(2) Why, O why, O Lord Jesus, with the wondrous witness of Your power in Your long-suffering and hard-dying, does this world, Your World continue to follow not You, but its own will and way, thus, suffering long and dying hard in the belief that power is only demonstrated through bellicose words and weapons of bullets and bombs? O Lord Jesus, by Your Spirit, I pray You, in the words of the hymn:

Heal Thy children’s warring madness
Bend our pride to Thy control
Shame our wanton, selfish gladness
Rich in things and poor in soul
Grant us wisdom, Grant us courage
Lest we miss Thy kingdom’s goal.(3)

Amen.

 

Footnotes:
(1) 1 Corinthians 1.18-25
(2) 2 Corinthians 12.9
(3) Words by Harry Emerson Fosdick (1930)

 

waiting for Jesus – an Advent-season-prayer-a-day, Day 13, Friday, December 15, 2017

 

Note: Advent, from the Latin, adventus, “coming”, is the Christian season of preparation for Jesus’ birth, the heart of the Christmas celebration, and, according to scripture and the Christian creeds, his second appearance on some future, unknown day and also according to scripture and Christian tradition, his daily coming through the Holy Spirit. Hence, the theme of waiting for Jesus is Advent’s clarion call.

O Lord Jesus, I wait this day for the wonder of Your World; for You are the divine logos, the all-creating, ever-animating Word. Yet so easily, without conscious thought, I, a sensate creature, claim and use all about me as mine own. How might my life, how might I be different (yea, though I pose a question, truly, I declare that I would be different!) if I daily thought and felt, intended and acted believing, knowing that this was, is Your world and all things therein? O Lord Jesus, by Your Spirit, breathe into me the words of Your evangelist John that they may be and become for me my daily meditative mantra, yea, my daily hymn of praise: All things came into being through (You), and without (You) not one thing came into being.(1) Amen.

 

Footnote:
(1) John 1.3