An Advent prayer based on the Lord's Prayer, loosely adapted fromThe Worship Sourcebook
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your Name.
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace—hallowed be your name.
Christ our Lord, you descended to earth, to a lowly manger
to bring all nations under your rule
and draw us into your holy and perfect presence.
We bow at your manger in awe of your might.
Immanuel, God with us—hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Prince of Peace, make your kingdom complete.
May we prepare a way for your kingdom
wherever there is violence and hatred
wherever there is oppression and injustice
wherever there is quarreling and alienation.
May we prepare a way for your kingdom of peace,
where the wolf will live with the lamb and the leopard will lie down with the kid.
In us, through us, and around us, your kingdom come.
Give us today our daily bread.
Bread of life, feed us with your truth.
In a season of greed and selfish desires
may we see that we are sustained only by your providence.
May our eagerness to open our gifts
Pale in comparison to our joy to receive the gift of the Savior.
May our discontent disappear as we approach the day of your coming.
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lord God, our lives are filled with sin.
We need a Savior to come to us.
For our worry and our scurrying this Advent season, forgive us.
For the way we make this a season of shopping rather than waiting, forgive us.
For the security and comfort we seek from sources other than you, forgive us.
For our indifference to the wonder of your coming, forgive us.
Come to us, Savior of the world.
Save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil.
Protect us from the constant dangers and enticing temptations we face each day.
Deliver us from the oppressive evils of apathy, addiction, and abuse.
Strengthen your church when it faces persecution
for announcing the coming of your kingdom.
Comfort all who are suffering in their hearts or in their bodies;
give them health and peace to sing of your power.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.
Word who became flesh and lived among us,
we have seen your glory, full of grace and truth.
You come to us now, and you will come to us again in glory,
when we will join all heaven and earth in giving you blessing
and honor and glory and might forever!
Until that glorious day, we praise you for becoming one of us,
And we long for your glory to be fully revealed.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
-from Matthew 6:9-13; English translation of the Lord's Prayer copyright © 1988 by the English Language Liturgical Consultation (ELLC).
