Advent Prayer 2023 - Rev. Loren McGrail (UCC PIN)

Come Human One, advent our lives.

Come like a thief in the night and disturb

our sleep, our comfortable realities that say

you can have peace without justice,

that say taking someone else’s land or life is not our concern,

that says it is Ok to violate human rights,

break international laws.

Break into our lives, Son of Man,

challenge our certainties,

make us vulnerable to the urgency of your Call

for a new Jerusalem, a Beloved Community here and now

in this place where the streets still run with the blood of the martyrs, in this place all call holy, all call home.

Help us, unexpected One, to become insomniacs

to keep awake, alert, and watchful

for the ways that your coming can be thwarted, obscured, or denied

by theologies that privilege certain groups as Chosen

by peace processes that deny the right of return,

that don’t demand the freezing of settlement building

or walls that separate and divide.

Christ the thief, come take away our fears and insecurities.

Prepare our hearts, our minds, our spirits

for your indwelling presence

your incarnation as a baby, a refugee,

our brother, our redeemer.

May we become uneasy and alive

unafraid and able to hear angels announcing or singing.

May we become your advent lights

of hope, peace, love, and joy.