the Nativity of our Lord (2023)
contemplating collects
(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 . . .
third Sunday of Advent (2023)
contemplating collects
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 . . .
second Sunday of Advent (2023)
contemplating collects
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 . . .
advent: on learning to wait
(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 . . .
Posted in: advent
first Sunday of Advent (2023)
contemplating collects
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 . . .
Cover image credit: http://unsplash.com/@jean_vella
