Prayer for the First Sunday of Advent

God of liberation

who overthrows Pharaohs

and outsmarts emperors

and outlasts Caesars

and outlives kings and dictators

and overcomes bosses

and drains the powerful of their power

in every generation,

and lifts up the lowly in every age:

we gather in the increasing cold

and the deepening darkness,

still sated with the feast of our own harvest,

still impressed with the profligacy of our own productivity,

still aglow from the warm embrace of our own family.

And we turn our hearts again

to Bethlehem.

Even as catalogs cram our mailboxes

and the urgency of sleigh-bells ring in every commercial,

and the pressure is on to buy and spend:

We turn our hearts again

to Bethlehem.

To a pair of homeless refugees

jerked around by government,

rejected by business,

unrecognized by family,

who journey on their way

to Bethlehem.

Keep us focused

on the One who emerges

out of everywhere,

who is already here

in the eyes of needy children

in the places of poverty

in the brokenness of the broken

and the loneliness of the outcast

in the sorrow of grief

and the horror of pain.

Who takes it all on himself

who swallows it all

into his purifying infinity

and transfigures it

into new and blessed life

Make our communities,

gatherings of ones who trust

in him, into fruitful beds of

blessing and healing

for the world.

May his love radiate through us

healing disease and injustice

hatred and fear

anger and hurt

by our kindness and compassion

in his Spirit.

May we serve as witnesses

to the infinite joy

and the blossoming of new life

and the spectacular radiance

of presence

of wholeness

of goodness

of blessing

of everything.

May we get busy.

Amen.