Advent Calendar Week 2

Monday December 5 Psalm 122
In this psalm, the faithful tie together the fate of the temple and the fate of society: they are both bound together, and they will prosper together. The families of the faithful are in there, too- “for the sake of my relatives and friends, I will say “Peace be within you.” In what ways do we see our church relating to the whole community? How often do we see our calling as the church to be the welfare of the larger society?
Prayer: Christ, you came as ruler of the whole world. Help our church to remember and care for others outside our walls. Amen.


Tuesday December 6 Psalm 33
This psalm spans the gamut of a command to praise the God who made all creation, to an assurance that God will keep people alive in famine. The psalm is founded on trust in God’s goodness: “our hearts are glad in him, because we trust in his holy name” says the psalmist. In what do we place our trust? In this Advent season, let us examine ourselves and look at what we really trust in: our own hard work? Luck? The government? Family? A God who comes to live among us?
Prayer: Holy One, we wait for you, for you are our help and shield. Help us always to trust in you, even when the wait seems long. Amen.


Wednesday December 7 Psalm 50
In this psalm, God speaks directly and forcefully to the people. Sacrifices will do no good if the people continue to steal, lie and slander others. It is thanksgiving to God that is seen as an acceptable offering, and a life lived out of that thankfulness. It is very fitting that the Advent season, a time of preparing our hearts for Christ, comes after our American Thanksgiving holiday. Thanksgiving is always the correct way to approach and honor God.
Prayer: Let us glorify you, O God, with lives of gratitude. For you are our God, and will show us salvation. Amen.



Thursday December 8 Psalm 18: 1-3, 18-20
The psalmist tells of calling on the Lord. God hears, and bends the very heavens, and comes down. In what ways is the birth of Christ an answer to prayer? In what ways has God heard your cries, and delivered you?
Prayer: Holy One, you hear us, and deliver us. I will call upon your name. Amen.





Friday December 9 Psalm 102
If yesterday’s psalm was a song of hope and trust, this psalm is a psalm of lament. The singer feels that God is hiding, that God is not acting. And yet…the singer also can lament, freely, because he has already experienced God’s great love and mercy, and looks forward to continued action by God. Have you ever felt that God was not responding to you, was absent? How did you feel? What did you do? The psalms of lament remind us that it is not only okay, but a sign of a firm relationship with God, to lament to God.
Prayer: Awesome God, there are often times when you seem absent. We cry out to you, and trust in you. Do not hide, do not forget, but remember us and hear our prayers. Amen.


Saturday December 10 Psalm 90
How many days have you lived? How many more do you think you will live? “So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart” says this psalm. The goal of gaining and counting up our years is not to amass wealth, or prestige. It is to have a heart that is wise in God. In God’s time, our lives are short—and yet they still matter. “O prosper the work of our hands!” prays the psalmist.
Prayer: Eternal God, a thousand ages in your sight are like an evening gone. And yet, you remember us, and have sent Christ to us. Prosper the work of our hands, that they may give glory to you. Thank you. Amen.