Saturday Prayers: December 15th – 16th, 2018
3rd Sunday of Advent
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted. Isaiah 61. 1.
God of power and mercy, you call us once again to celebrate the coming of your Son. Remove all things which hinder love of you, that when he comes, he may find us waiting in awe and wonder for him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Thy kingdom come on bended knee the passing ages pray; and faithful souls have yearned to see on earth that kingdoms day. Already on the hills the flags of dawn appear. Gird up your loins, you prophet souls; proclaim the day is near, the day of perfect righteousness, the promised day of God. (Adapted from the text of Fredrick Lucian Hosmer)
From the Advent Antiphons
O Morning Star, splendour of the light eternal and the bright Sun of righteousness: come and enlighten all who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death. Lord Jesus, come soon! O King of the nations, you alone can fulfil their desire: Cornerstone, you make opposing nations one: Come and save the creature you fashioned from clay. Lord, Jesus, come soon!
The Song of Peace from the Prophet Isaiah
In the days to come the mountain of the house of the Lord shall tower as the highest of mountains and be raised above the hills.
There shall all the nations flow; many peoples shall come and say, Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, that we may walk in his paths.
For the Law shall go out from Jerusalem. They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, their spears into pruning knives; nations shall not lift up sword against nation, and war shall be no more.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, they shall prosper that love thee.
As we begin to celebrate the Christmas Festival earlier and earlier, may our prayers of preparation go deeper and deeper into the reality of what the Birth of Christ means to us – may he be born within us. Amen
Blessings,
nnDnn Archdeacon Ron Matthewman, Vicar General Emeritus
OSMTH-I
