Week Four: Hope
Advent draws closer now to its close. Having remembered the promises, we've learned
again to wait on God. In our waiting, we have been given to wild imaginations about what
God longs for the world to become. And in our holy imaginations, we have learned again to
hope for the life of the world that is to come - and come it will! We must have eyes peeled
to recognize it and arms free to receive it. Let us confess what encumbers us and hampers
our preparations. Let us confess our sin, first in silence, then as one. Let us pray...
Silence
Prayer of Confession
Merciful God, we have once again risked embarking on this Advent journey. We have done
what we can to let go of our anxieties about what this season has become in order to
be free to receive it for what it really is. Forgive us when we have failed. Forgive us when
we have turned a deaf ear to your messengers who were calling our names. Forgive us for
turning a blind eye to the signs that said you have chosen us. Forgive us for our refusal
to believe that you would trust us to bear you into this broken but hopeful world. Forgive
us; we are just ordinary people trying to live our lives as best we can. Forgive us when we
find ourselves wishing you would choose somebody else. Empower us to believe with
Mary, to hope with Joseph, and to announce with the angels that your Spirit has come
upon us again for the sake of the world. Through Christ. Amen.
Pouring of the Baptismal Waters
Remember your baptism and be thankful!
The Declaration of the Forgiveness
Hear the good news! In Jesus Christ, God remembers our sin no more and says instead,
"You are forgiven!"
Thanks be to God! Amen.
The Gloria Patri
The Passing of the Peace
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