Friday, December 02, 2005
Preparing to Pray 12/2
Rejoice, you just, it is the coming of the Justifier.
Rejoice, you who are weak and sick; it is the coming of the Savior, the Healer.
Rejoice, captives; it is the coming of the Redeemer.
Rejoice, slaves; it is the coming of the one who makes you lords.
Rejoice, free people; it is the coming of the one who makes you free.
Rejoice, all Christians; it is the coming of Christ.O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.
-adapted from a Christmas sermon by Augustine, reprinted in Proclaiming the Christmas Gospel
Articles for Prayer This Week
In public intercessory prayer this week, we pray…
- for peace in Darfur, where, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Samantha Power writes, the African Union has a tenuous hold on the region.
- for comfort in Halberstadt, Germany, where 10 homeless people were killed in a fire this week (Dominican Today), and in Haiti, where 11 children and missionary Phil Snyder were taken hostage this week before being released (Malayala Manorama and WOOD TV 8).
- with gratitude for the ministry and fellowship of the Los Angeles Mongolian Church, the only Mongolian congregation in the L.A. area.
Themes for Prayer and Worship This Week
- Like a Plowed Field: Micah 3:12 (Calvin Institute of Christian Worship)
- Isaiah’s Textual Contrasts (Calvin Institute of Christian Worship)
- Lectionary Gospel Text: Mark 1:1-8 and HC Lord’s Day 18 (Center for Excellence in Preaching); Revised Common Lectionary resources from textweek.com
Pondering the Purpose of Worship
In addition to our prayers in preparation for worship, we ponder the purpose of worship. This week, we reflect on these words of wisdom about worship as we gather:
We acquire facility in personal language that is accurately responsive to what we hear God say to us out of his word in Scripture and in Christ in our changing situations and various levels of faith. We need a vocabulary and syntax that is sufficiently personal and adequately wide-ranging to answer everything that God says from wherever we happen to hear it within every developing stage of our pilgrimage across the entire spectrum of our lives.
-Eugene Peterson, Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity
• Listen to a reading of this quote(mp3)
by Howard Vanderwell
Earlier: Preparing to Pray in Thanksgiving Worship
More Resources for Preparing for Worship
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