Even though the first week of Advent is already over, I have been meaning to share this brief but rich and moving Collect Prayer from the week's liturgy:
O Lord, I really need this.
Your power, your mighty strength, you, O God our Creator and our Father — you love us! You are "on our side" in the struggle of existence; radically, not only by sustaining us in being, but also — even when we are divided against ourselves — you are "for us" by the grace of your mercy.
My sins impede me from attaining the fulfillment for which you created me; but in your mercy you want not only to remove this impediment, but to hasten me forward.
Your mercy wants to recreate me, turn me around, and draw me toward the fullness of my personal destiny in Christ — that adopted sonship that you have fashioned for me in your wisdom and love. I don't comprehend how this "place" in your Kingdom is really for me — that it's the true "home" I'm seeking, which I have glimpsed and tasted obscurely, by faith, in my family life, in these mountains, in the hospitality of friends, in every beautiful thing.
I really need this prayer. We all do. O Lord, come to our help with mighty strength.
In this Advent season we cry out to our Father, we show him our weakness, but we trust in his power and goodness. So we pray "that what our sins impede, the grace of your mercy may hasten through our Lord Jesus Christ..."
Stir up you power, O Lord. Wake up and stir up my heart, so that I will remember that I have been made for you, so that I will hasten to seek you and rejoice to find you!
O Lord, I really need this.
Your power, your mighty strength, you, O God our Creator and our Father — you love us! You are "on our side" in the struggle of existence; radically, not only by sustaining us in being, but also — even when we are divided against ourselves — you are "for us" by the grace of your mercy.
My sins impede me from attaining the fulfillment for which you created me; but in your mercy you want not only to remove this impediment, but to hasten me forward.
Your mercy wants to recreate me, turn me around, and draw me toward the fullness of my personal destiny in Christ — that adopted sonship that you have fashioned for me in your wisdom and love. I don't comprehend how this "place" in your Kingdom is really for me — that it's the true "home" I'm seeking, which I have glimpsed and tasted obscurely, by faith, in my family life, in these mountains, in the hospitality of friends, in every beautiful thing.I really need this prayer. We all do. O Lord, come to our help with mighty strength.
In this Advent season we cry out to our Father, we show him our weakness, but we trust in his power and goodness. So we pray "that what our sins impede, the grace of your mercy may hasten through our Lord Jesus Christ..."
Stir up you power, O Lord. Wake up and stir up my heart, so that I will remember that I have been made for you, so that I will hasten to seek you and rejoice to find you!
