10 December 2022

Praying in Advent with Lichfield Cathedral
and USPG: Saturday 10 December 2022

‘Pray for grace to work through … questions and find true wisdom’ (Lichfield Cathedral Devotional Calendar) … Lichfield Cathedral and the Cathedral Close (Photograph © Mark Anthony Walden)

Patrick Comerford

We are half-way through Advent today, having come to the end of the second week of Advent. Before today gets busy, I am taking some time this morning for reading, prayer and reflection.

During Advent, I am reflecting in these ways:

1, The reading suggested in the Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar produced by Lichfield Cathedral this year;

2, praying with the Lichfield Cathedral Devotional Calendar;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary, ‘Pray with the World Church.’

‘And the disciples asked him, ‘Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?’ (Matthew 17: 10) … an icon of the Prophet Elijah in a hilltop chapel near Georgioupoli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 17: 10-13 (NRSVA):

10 And the disciples asked him, ‘Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?’ 11 He replied, ‘Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things; 12 but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.’ 13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

Evening lights at the West Front, Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Lichfield Cathedral Devotional Calendar:

Reflect on how the Christian faith was born amidst hesitancy and confusion, of how things half-understood at the time were reframed. Pray for grace to work through the questions and find true wisdom.

Collect:

O Lord, raise up, we pray, your power
and come among us,
and with great might succour us;
that whereas, through our sins and wickedness
we are grievously hindered
in running the race that is set before us,
your bountiful grace and mercy
may speedily help and deliver us;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit,
be honour and glory, now and for ever.

Post Communion:

Father in heaven,
who sent your Son to redeem the world
and will send him again to be our judge:
give us grace so to imitate him
in the humility and purity of his first coming
that, when he comes again,
we may be ready to greet him
with joyful love and firm faith;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Almighty God, purify our hearts and minds,
that when your Son Jesus Christ comes again
as judge and saviour
we may be ready to receive him,
who is our Lord and our God.

Collect on the Eve of Advent 3:

O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight; for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

USPG Prayer Diary:

The theme in the USPG Prayer Diary this week has been ‘Human Rights in the Philippines.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with an excerpt from the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (Philippine Independent Church) human rights report by USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary invites us to pray today in these words:

Let us give thanks for the courage and commitment of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente in its challenge of oppression. May we also pursue justice for the poor and marginalised.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

‘Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him’ (Matthew 17: 12) … Elijah in the Chariot of Fire, depicted in a window in Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Newport, Essex (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

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