Taking Thoughts Captive

first Sunday of Christmas (2023)

contemplating collects

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ALMIGHTY and Everlasting God, direct our actions according to Thy good pleasure, that in the Name of Thy beloved Son, we may be made to abound in good works; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

-- Common Service Book . . .

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December 31, 2023

Christmas day (2023)

contemplating collects

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Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that the new Birth of Thine Only-begotten Son in the flesh may set us free who are held in the old bondage under the yoke of sin; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

-- . . .

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December 25, 2023

the Nativity of our Lord (2023)

contemplating collects

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(Note: Since the Fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve coincide this year, tradition in some places is to give the collect for Christmas Eve/the Nativity of our Lord precedence.)

O God, Who hast made this most holy night to shine with the brightness of the true Light: Grant, we beseech Thee, that as we have known . . .

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Posted in: adventcollects

December 24, 2023

third Sunday of Advent (2023)

contemplating collects

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LORD, we beseech Thee, give ear to our prayers, and lighten the darkness of our hearts, by Thy gracious visitation; Who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

-- Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church

And when John had heard in prison about the . . .

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December 17, 2023

second Sunday of Advent (2023)

contemplating collects

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STIR up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of Thine Only-Begotten Son, so that by His coming we may be enabled to serve Thee with pure minds; Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

-- Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church

“And there . . .

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Posted in: adventcollects

December 10, 2023

advent: on learning to wait

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(this is an updated version of a post I originally wrote in 2017)

In a letter to his fiancee Maria von Wedmeyer written in a Nazi prison in December 1943, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote:

Celebrating Advent means being able to wait. Waiting is an art that our impatient age has forgotten...Whoever does not know the . . .

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December 04, 2023

first Sunday of Advent (2023)

contemplating collects

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STIR up, we beseech Thee, Thy power, O Lord, and come; that by Thy protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins, and saved by Thy mighty deliverance; Who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

-- Common Service Book of the Lutheran . . .

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Posted in: adventcollects

December 03, 2023

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