From my book More Short Prayers for Public Worship – published by Kevin Mayhew in 2012, price £18.99 – a prayer recognising that we need to work at our faith if we are to be ready not only to welcome Christ when he comes, but also to serve and worship him fully at Advent and beyond.
Awesome God,
save us from carelessness in our relationship with you,
from being casual and complacent in our dealings,
assuming we can gloss over whatever’s wrong between us.
Teach us to work at our faith,
preparing the ground each day to know you better,
so that when your kingdom comes
we may be ready to stand before you
and meet you,
face to face.
Amen.