An Advent Prayer
The Spirit of the Lord God is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and freedom to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of our God’s vengeance;
to comfort all who mourn,
to provide for those who mourn in Zion;
to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
festive oil instead of mourning,
and splendid clothes instead of despair.
And they will be called righteous trees,
planted by the Lord
to glorify him.
~ Isaiah 61:1-3
Father, we thank and praise You for being the LORD God Almighty, the Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End, the One who was and is and is to come. What You promise, You always deliver, so we can trust in You and not doubt…but we do so often doubt, even when surrounded by Your goodness. Forgive us and help our unbelief, Lord God! We are grateful that You are mindful of us, You know that we are but dust, and You are so very patient with us. In fact, Your steadfast love never ceases. You never shake your head at us, utterly frustrated by our sheep-like behavior. Instead, as our Good Shepherd, Jesus, You know all of our names and personalities, and You know what each of us is facing today. You are not reluctant to love us, quite the opposite - You demonstrated Your great love for us in this - while we were still sinners, You died for us. This is all Your doing, Lord God Almighty; and it is marvelous in our eyes!
Today, Father, we acknowledge our disappointment and grief that seats at our Thanksgiving and Christmas table will be empty. We long to be reunited with those who have left us, through betrayal, distance or even death. We are weary of waiting - for that wandering child to come back home, for the chemo and radiation to kill the cancer in our body, for reconciliation of that important, yet broken relationship. We are so weary of waiting for it all. But that weariness in waiting is not a new thing, is it, Lord? The promises that You made to Adam and Eve in the garden of a Messiah who would crush the head of the lying serpent and defeat sin and death initiated a millennia of waiting, as Your promise was woven through the generations - of redemption, of eternal life, of Messiah.
And so Jesus’ birth caught most of Your beloved people by surprise, even though they had the Scriptures of prophecy and promise. Why were they caught off guard? They, like us, were weary of waiting, and let the monotonous story of promise go in one ear and out the other. Even more was the shock when 30-year-old Jesus stood up in the synagogue he had grown up in, read Isaiah 61:1-3 and proclaimed that He was the fulfillment of this prophecy! Jesus had come to bring good news to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to set all those imprisoned free! He had come to remind God’s people who they were, replacing their mourning with the oil of gladness, their sackcloth and ashes with festive clothes of righteousness. They would be called righteous trees, planted by the Lord to glorify him. (Is 61:3)
Because of your sacrifice on our behalf, Lord Jesus, and your defeat of death, hell and the grave on Calvary, all who You have chosen and given faith to believe and receive Your lavish, reckless, prodigal gift of grace have been adopted into your family, now called a righteous tree, planted by the Lord to glorify him. During this Advent season, would you daily remind us of your promise, of your extravagant love, and who you say we are because of Who You Are!
In Your Most Holy Name, Amen.
