Tuesday - Advent 1

Prayer:  O Come,  O Come  Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel,  that mourns in lowly exile here, until the Son of God appear.  Rejoice,  rejoice,  Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.  Amen.    (O Come, O Come   Emmanuel    Hymn    words: public domain  Translated by John Mason Neale (1818-1866).

 

Read  Psalm 122

This Psalm is one of the many Psalms that would have been sung as the people journeyed up to the Temple.   This is often called a “song of ascents”.    Together the people would journey to the Temple.   As they journeyed,  they didn’t talk about  what was happening in their lives,  they sung the Psalms to God.  

 

The focus of this Psalm is on peace.  May there be peace within your walls.   Peace be within you.    That is quite a request.   Today as we listen to the news and read the newspapers,  we hear of war and conflicts and we begin to wonder where is God’s peace?   God’s  peace is within our hearts.  It is up to us to pray and ask God to use us so that peace can be brought into this world.  

 

Preparing our hearts during Advent just doesn’t mean cleaning our houses and baking cookies,  it also means praying.    Today as we carry out our lives,  pray  prayers of peace.   They don’t need to be long prayers but with each task and chore that you do today,  pray for peace and justice to be brought into our world.

 

Prayer:  Great God of healing,  we pray to You today for peace within our world.   May those who are displaced because of war and conflict find peace and rest within Your loving arms.   Use us this day to be instruments of Your peace. May peace be within us.  O Come O Come Emmanuel.  Amen.