Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Advent and Christmas prayers for illumination by Michael Lindvall

Michael Lindvall:

God of acceptance without horizon, may your grace rise again upon us this day.
May your love startle us again in its embarrassing generosity and its costly
demands. Save us from our eternal temptation to make you as small as our
imaginations and to shrink your grace to the size of our affections. And now may
the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your
sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. Amen [+]

Open our ears to hear your word over the wonderful and dizzy din of modern
Christmas. May it fall fresh on our ears and find its way into our hearts. May it
shape the way we live, make choices, and set priorities. And now may the words
of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord,
my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen [+]

Cast your light on these words, O God, this ancient and mysterious story, familiar
and perplexing at the same time. May it comfort us if comfort be our true need.
May it discomfort us if discomfort be our truer need. And now may the words of
my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my
Rock and my Redeemer. Amen. [+]

Teach us again to listen for angel voices, O God. Tune our ears for whispers of
transcendence hidden between the honking of taxi horns, sequestered in laughter at
a party, concealed in the giggles of overexcited children, tucked between the
silences, woven into the warp and woof of joy and sorrow, and incarnate this night
in word, music and sacrament. And now may the words of my mouth and the
meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and
Redeemer. Amen. [+]

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