This reading, confession, and assurance originally appeared in "Be Not Afraid—Advent 1: The Hopes and Fears of all the Years."
Responsive Reading
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning.
We wait and we hope.
O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.
We wait and we hope.
Glory to God the Father, to Jesus the Messiah, and to the Holy Spirit.
We wait and we hope. Amen.
—adapted from Psalm 130:5–7, NRSVUE
Songs
“Christ, Be Our Light” (vs. 1, 2, 4, and 5) Farrell
“Here I Am to Worship” Hughes
Prayer of Confession
We wait and we hope. For many of us, Christmas feels like a time in which we do neither. The season has become one of parties and extra activities, plans with family, year-end deadlines, and purchasing gifts. There is not much space for us to wait and feel hopeful. So this morning we begin our time of prayer by carving out some space for silence, for silent prayers to God or maybe just for silence before God.
[Silence]
Emmanuel, God with us, in this Advent season, we confess how difficult it is to slow down. We don’t want to wait patiently for anything, and instead we buy into the busyness of the season, leading many of us to feel a lack of joy and a lack of hope. When we look at the world around us, it’s hard to feel hopeful about the world, about our nation, about ourselves. We are surrounded by death, destruction, and pain, and we long for a day when your promised kingdom comes to make all things new. Give us hope that this day is indeed coming, and help us to rest in this because your promises are always true. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
Our hope for a new creation is not tied to what humans can do, for we believe that one day every challenge to God’s rule will be crushed. His kingdom will fully come, and the Lord will rule. Come, Lord Jesus, come.
—Our World Belongs to God, para. 55, © 2008, Christian Reformed Church in North America, Grand Rapids MI. www.crcna.org. Used by permission.
