I have yet to share with you the rest of my trip to Italy. There’s still Florence and Rome to cover on what was for me a spiritual pilgrimage. And so, after Christmas, I’ll continue those reflections.

 

But Advent has come a knocking and this season asks us to prepare and pray for Jesus to be born anew in our lives and in the life of the world, even as we wait expectantly for his return.  I’d like to share with you an Advent prayer that I am praying through Advent. It comes from the Iona Community in Scotland and was originally written in the plural for corporate worship. But I’ve been praying it in the singular in my morning prayers. I offer it to you for yours.

 

Open my eyes, Lord,

especially if they are half shut

          because I am tired of looking,

or half open

          because I fear to see too much,

or bleared with tears

          because yesterday and today and tomorrow

          are filled with the same pain,

or contracted,

          because I only look at what I want to see.

 

Open my eyes, Lord,

to gently scan the life I lead,

          the home I have,

          the world I inhabit,

and so to find,

among the gremlins and the greyness,

signs of hope I can fasten on and encourage.

 

Give me, I whose eyes are dimmed by familiarity,

a bigger vision of what you can do

even with hopeless cases and lost causes

and people of limited ability.

 

Show me the world as in your sight,

riddled by debt, deceit and disbelief,

yet also

shot through with possibility

for recovery, renewal, redemption.

 

And lest I fail to distinguish vision from fantasy,

today, tomorrow, this week,

open my eyes to one person or one place,

where I – being even for a moment prophetic –

might identify and wean a potential in the waiting.

And with all this,

open my eyes, in yearning, for Jesus.

 

Advent peace to you,

Pastor Kristen

 

 

Announcements

 

Christmas Services:  Sunday, December 24th- Because Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday this year, there will be two services: One at 10a and a Service of lessons, Carols, and Candlelight at 5p.

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                                                               10:00 a.m.

                                                                5:00 p.m. - a service of lessons, carols, and candlelight.  click here for more info

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                                                                      There will be no church service on Monday, December 25th.

 

MASKS OPTIONAL: The wearing of masks at Crete United Methodist Church is optional. While masks are not required, those who are more comfortable masked are encouraged to do so. We also ask that if you have not been vaccinated or if you are feeling a bit under the weather, that you wear a mask as a goodwill effort on your part.

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