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Church, St. John the Baptist Cathedral – Santa Cruz do Sul
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Watching the sunrise during dark: morning in Advent link
Thank you. What a gift this morning from you as I watched the blazing sunrise through a cloudy winter sky.
It is hard getting up these dark mornings, Lord, and yet you gift me with a sight that I miss at other times of year,
when the weather is warmer and the sun rises before I get up.
I stared out the window at the red and purple light, gloriously framed by the gold of the rising sun.
"Be still, and know that I am God" was the only thing that came to me.
I watched in silence, filled with a sense of your presence in my life.
I am filled with gratitude this day for such a treasure and could feel it and see it as a gift from you.
Thank you for your love. Today, let me carry a sense of how much you love me to send me such a gift.
Let that awareness of your love change the way I treat others today.
Let me be more reverent in the irritations of the day.
I ask your help to move through my errands and holiday preparations today with peace and a sense of your sunrise in my heart.
Your glory fills my spirit and I want only to give thanks with my life this day.
Amen
Advent Prayer for Hope-David Bennett link
Lord Jesus Christ,
who is, who was, and who is to come,
we pray for the virtue of hope,
that amidst the trials and difficulties
of this world,
we may keep our hearts fixed
upon you, who reigns over the cosmos.
May your grace enliven us,
strengthen us,
and defend us,
as we await your coming in glory.
Amen
Scripture Reading: John 18:37 (NASB Bible Gateway)
Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
Advent Prayer link
God of strength and protection,
I turn to you because I need help.
I long to be free enough
to trust that I can lean on you.
But I become afraid.
Help me to trust in you, Lord.
Your strength and power
are a gentle place of protection.
Be a safe refuge when I am being trampled.
I long for your help, your protecting care.
Help to deliver me from the cold
loneliness of these dark nights.
Amen
Closing Advent Prayer link
Loving God,
I sense that all is your creation
and everything, and all of us,
are being drawn back toward your loving heart.
Help me to be a person of peace,
to speak about it in an uneasy world,
and to live it among the people
you have put into my life every day.
Light in me a desire to prepare for your coming
to stand in the darkness, waiting, eager and filled with joy.
Amen
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