Comfort My People, A Prayer for Celebrating Christmas This Year

We don’t know how we are going to get through this season,

They sat through my office and said,

And their pain sat visceral in the room.

And I nodded along and prayed that they could find places

where their grief could be invited along with them and given a place at the table.

God, this is a prayer that Christmas can be more of a season of comfort

for those who need it.

I sat in the cards shop the other day,

and could not find one card

that expressed the comfort that I wanted to say during this season

of pandemic-Christmas tide. And I think, God

of what it exactly it was that the shepherds,

and the (actually unnumbered) Magi

and John the Baptist and Mary were looking for on that dark night.

The tidings were Good News of Great Joy yes,

but also, I think, it was comfort that they hungered for

Wasn’t that the fulfillment proclaimed in the Magnificat?

Wasn’t that the first title given to Jesus in Isaiah?

Not mighty* or everlasting father! No!

The first thing named for the Savior to come Counselor! Comforter, and a Wonderful one at that.

Because Lord knows this advent we are black with mourning and grief.

There is no comfort candle on the advent wreath (at least not traditionally)

But that’s who you are, Holy Spirit, Comforter.

And Lord knows we need comfort!

God, may we let this season be one not just of Joy or Hope–

if we aren’t feeling those things, let that be ok.

Help us to make this, for those who need it,

be a season of Comfort.

Help us to create a Season of Comfort, for the lonely, the lost, the grieving, I pray.

Comfort your people. Please God, because you know, we sure do need it.

And maybe next year, we will add a comfort candle to the wreath–

Til then, comfort your people we pray.

Amen.

Feel Free to use/adapt/share with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta

Thanks to @byAndriaIrwin for the inspirational tweet

*note that the Hebrew word for this actually translates as God of many mounds, which means God of many worships spots (powerful/accessible) and God of many breasts/nourishing places. We have later shorthanded it as mighty.

An Advent Prayer for the World Weary

Here’s a Prayer

for anyone who is going into Advent Tired

Weary of almost two years of

pandemicking

Two years of pastoring or preaching or caring or writing prayers for people

who are ill, or caretaking,

or trying to find a bed in the hospital, or a spot for surgery.

Here’s a prayer for a timeframe where the hard things have been harder

and the loneliness has felt excruciating,

and the reassessing has hit like a hammer

and the promised whisper of the baby Jesus

is hard to hear over the to do lists,

and the worrying

and apocalyptic understanding of health/political/biogotted infrastructures and economies

of this time and space.

And Lord,

It makes us wonder if this is some of what Mary felt in tumultuous and occupied Jerusalem

when she faced the angel,

overwhelmed by it all

We too feel her determination

As she opened her mouth and

found that the words that tumbled out were

It doesn’t have to be this way!

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It doesn’t have to be this way!

Magnify the Lord!

Bring down the Mighty

Fill the Hungry with Good Things.

So as we enter this Advent, tired and hungry and lonely God.

Remind us that,Advent is a good time for these feelings, Lord.

Advent is about preparation,

and understanding that we are ready for Jesus!

Lord,

I think we need Christ right now,

And that’s ok,

Remind us that it’s ok,

It’s ok to really, truly need Jesus!

and traditional to be world weary at Advent.

And help us to sit with that a bit I pray.

Amen.

Here’s a Prayer

for anyone who is going into Advent Tired

Weary of almost two years of

pandemicking

Two years of pastoring or preaching or caring or writing prayers for people

who are ill, or caretaking,

or trying to find a bed in the hospital, or a spot for surgery.

Here’s a prayer for a timeframe where the hard things have been harder

and the loneliness has felt excruciating,

and the reassessing has hit like a hammer

and the promised whisper of the baby Jesus

is hard to hear over the to do lists,

and the worrying

and apocalyptic understanding of health/political/biogotted infrastructures and economies

of this time and space.

And Lord,

It makes us wonder if this is some of what Mary felt in tumultuous and occupied Jerusalem

when she faced the angel,

overwhelmed by it all

We too feel her determination

As she opened her mouth and

found that the words that tumbled out were

It doesn’t have to be this way!

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is screen-shot-2021-12-01-at-9.49.13-am.png
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is screen-shot-2021-12-01-at-9.48.10-am.png
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is screen-shot-2021-12-01-at-9.47.27-am.png

It doesn’t have to be this way!

Magnify the Lord!

Bring down the Mighty

Fill the Hungry with Good Things.

So as we enter this Advent, tired and hungry and lonely God.

Remind us that,Advent is a good time for these feelings, Lord.

Advent is about preparation,

and understanding that we are ready for Jesus!

Lord,

I think we need Christ right now,

And that’s ok,

Remind us that it’s ok,

It’s ok to really, truly need Jesus!

and traditional to be world weary at Advent.

And help us to sit with that a bit I pray.

Amen.

Complete List of Pandemic Prayers and Resources

With Thanks to April Fiet, Andre Henry, David Hogg and Kevin Miguel Garcia for the Inspirational Tweets

Originally Published at RevGalBlogPals https://revgalblogpals.org/2021/12/03/an-advent-prayer-for-the-world-weary/

If you enjoy my prayers please consider giving to my Doctorate in Creative Writing. I write extensive prayers and resources for free and usually have over 100 views a day. If everyone gave $10 I’d be done in two weeks! https://gofund.me/70a114f9

Please feel free to share/adapt/use with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

Ready for a fun Supposition?

Here’s something to consider–it’s for fun you do not need to agree with me, but I like it and will continue to believe it.

It Came Upon A Midnight Clear is an Advent Song.

1. It’s about angels

2. It’s about their endless song

3. This entire verse is advent And ye, beneath life’s crushing load, Whose forms are bending low, Who toll along the climbing way With painful steps and slowLook now! for glad and golden hour Come swiftly on the wing;O rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing.(Waiting, pentitance, getting through ALL advent themes)

4. Verse 4 is all about prophecy….as is the whole thing

Anyway we sing Christmas song early anyway but we almost always sing it the 2nd week, for peace as an advent prophecy song, because I maintain its been misfiled

All I want…(Magnificat)

All I want for Christmas God,

is everything

Peace on Earth, and no more guns,

and the end of the filibuster,

and every child fed.

All girls want is equity–

and all pregnant people want is easy and safe access to abortion

and childbirth, family leave and chidcare.

Jesus Christ, do you hear me?

All we want is equity, and Black Lives to Matter

and Native Land Returned

and Queer Families to be acknowledged and safe

and for all Bodies to be Affirmed.

All we want is for Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

to include healthcare and shelter for every single person

and the humanity of one single person to never ever be debased.

All I want is for pronouns to be universal, and for people to not look at me weird if I refer to God as she or ze or they.

All I want is for everyone to understand that no human being is illegal,

and that disability porn is disgusting, and that any nation where people have to beg to get basic things is severely lacking.

Holy Spirit– you have heard me say this before, so you know.

All I want is a world where addiction is understood to be a disease,

mental illness care is not a shambles

and neither is blamed whenever some domestic terrorist incident happens.

All I want is a world where everyone who wants access to therapy can get it–

without barriers for free.

All I want is a place where politics are not politics but policies of care and where politicians are there to serve the people.

All I want is a world where mindless corporations are not favored and technology is first and foremost used to help one another.

God–why did you make my imagination so unlimited, when it seems that our capabilities are so limited?

How is it I can so easily imagine the Kingdom to come? I know its not really my job to bring it about, because I can’t, that’s your job.

Nor can I demand it, for it will come in its own time.

But wow Lord, whenever I imagine what can be, my mind just goes wild with the possibilities! Help me to see some of the fruit of the Spirit I pray!

Because, as you know, I want it all!

Amen.

Feel fee to use/share/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta