Here’s a prayer written originally for those who will be leading public worship during Advent, but it could equally be used in your personal devotions. A prayer of confession, once again taken from my book Prayers for All Seasons (book 2), it recognises that Advent is a time for receiving, and asks forgiveness for the way we time and again turn our backs on the love God extends to us through the gift of his Son.
A time for receiving
Lord Jesus Christ,
we recall today how you entered your world
and the world did not know you;
how you came to your own people,
and they would not receive you;
how you were born in Bethlehem,
and there was no room for you in the inn.
From the beginning it was the same old story –
your love rejected,
your grace ignored.
Lord have mercy,
and teach us to receive you with gladness.
We remember that you came to set people free
and to offer a new relationship with God –
breaking down the barriers which keep us apart,
bearing the price of our disobedience,
opening up the way to life.
Yet we remember, too, that though some listened for a moment,
few followed you to the end.
Time and again it was the same old story –
your love rejected,
your grace ignored.
Lord have mercy,
and teach us to receive you with gladness.
We know we are no better,
each of us guilty, day after day, of spurning your guidance,
forgetting your goodness and abandoning your way.
We talk of commitment, but our faith is weak;
we speak of following you, but follow only our own inclinations;
we claim to be a new creation,
but it is the old self that still holds sway.
Time and again it is the same old story –
your love rejected,
your grace ignored.
Lord have mercy,
and teach us to receive you with gladness.
Lord Jesus Christ,
we marvel that, despite it all –
the world’s hostility and our own faithlessness –
still you reach out in love,
never giving up,
refusing to write us off.
We thank you that you are always ready to offer a fresh start,
a new beginning,
to anyone willing to receive it.
Come what may, it is the same old story –
you continue seeking us out,
however often we thrust you aside,
your love rejected,
your grace ignored.
Lord have mercy,
and teach us to receive you with gladness.
In your name we ask it.
Amen.