Advent Devotions
All are invited as we Make Room this Advent season.
God’s Gracious Invitation
Today’s author is Prince of Peace member Carol Swanson.
Read Psalm 104: 1-13.
In the Epilogue of In God’s Presence, Marjorie Suchocki’s writes:
“God creates and works within an interdependent universe, both interdependent within itself and with God. The universe is not ‘finished’; God’s creativity cannot be so easily stilled! Stars are yet born and race toward unfathomable reaches of space. Suns yet burst in fireballs of energy, spawning yet new planets and who knows, what forms of new life. In our own small portion of this universe, generation yet follows generation, and we turn life into story, and yet again into history. In such a teeming universe, what is prayer but God’s gracious invitation to us to participate in the continuing work of creation? If prayer constitutes our openness to God’s own purposes of increasing communal well-being, then prayer is God’s creation with us of this very well-being! Prayer is central to the how of God’s continuing work in our world (p 126).”
Let us pray in adoration the words of Brian Wren, “Come And Meet Us” from Piece Together Praise: A Theological Journey, by Brian Wren, p 8:
God of many Names
gathered into One,
in your glory come and meet us,
Moving, endlessly Becoming;
God of Hovering Wings,
Womb and Birth of time,
joyfully we sing your praises,
Breath of life in every people––
Hush, hush, hallelujah, hallelujah!
Shout, shout, hallelujah, hallelujah!
Sing, sing, hallelujah, hallelujah!
Sing, God is love, God is love!
God of Jewish faith,
Exodus and Law,
in your glory come and meet us,
joy of Miriam and Moses;
God of Jesus Christ,
Rabbi of the poor,
joyfully we sing your praises,
crucified, alive for ever––
Hush, hush, hallelujah, hallelujah!
Shout, shout, hallelujah, hallelujah!
Sing, sing, hallelujah, hallelujah!
Sing, God is love, God is love!
God of Wounded Hands,
Web and Loom of love,
in your glory come and meet us,
Carpenter of new creation;
God of many Names
gathered into One,
joyfully we sing your praises,
Moving, endlessly Becoming––
Hush, hush, hallelujah, hallelujah!
Shout, shout, hallelujah, hallelujah!
Sing, sing, hallelujah, hallelujah!
Sing, God is love, God is love!
(These books are in our Prince of Peace library.)
Previously…
God Calls You
Today's devotional author is Prince of Peace member, Gary Olson. Please read Exodus 3:1-12. We all receive calls from God. Those calls most often come to us in natural ways— through the skills and talents, the interests that are within us and which motivate us to...
Still Listening
Today’s author is Prince of Peace member, Bob Reichman. Exodus 3:1-12 Photo Credit: imdb.com In the late 1960s, “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” was cutting-edge television. The show didn’t shy away from controversial political humor, and it introduced the...
Keep Our Doors Open
Today's author is Prince of Peace's Intentional Interim, Pastor Steve Sylvester. Photo by Helen Brook on Unsplash As I stand in the pastor’s study here at Prince of Peace on Wednesday morning, I am hearing the “squeak, squeak, squeak” of tricycle wheels on the gym...
The Towering Confusion
Today's author is Prince of Peace member, Scott Tunseth. A Byzantine era mosaic depicting the building of the Tower of Babel in the Palatine Chapel in Palermo, Italy. The story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 has (no pun intended) multiple layers of meaning. Take...