November 29

Prayer: 
We know about your presence
that fills the world,
that occupies our life,
that makes our life in the world true and good.
We notice your powerful transformative presence
in word and in sacrament,
in food and in water,
in gestures of mercy and practices of justice,
in gentle neighbours and daring gratitude.
We count so on your presence
and then plunge – without intending – into your absence.
We find ourselves alone, abandoned, without resources
remembering your goodness,
hoping your future,
but mired in anxiety and threat and risk beyond our coping.
In your absence we bid your presence,
come again,
come soon,
come here.
Come to every garden become a jungle
Come to every community become joyless sad and numb.
We acknowledge your dreadful absence and insist on your presence.
Come again, come soon. Come here.[1]

Readings: Micah 4:6-13

Reflection: Our hope is to be rooted in God’s faithfulness. As we wait and long we must also consider the faithfulness of God to us, a faithfulness that declares generation through generation I have a plan, you are my people, you are part of my plan, and you have always been a part of my plan. It is so often easy to lose sight of the delicately woven threads together in God’s plan as it even now only begins to unfold before our eyes.

Application: Consider your life and the people brought into your life. The relationships provisioned by God and take time to write one or more of them a card this season. You might already be planning on doing Christmas cards or have even already sent them out. If so send another card or enclose a separate letter and speak to the presence of Christ they have been in your life. In doing so there is an acknowledgement of God’s provision but also your friend’s faithfulness and it speaking to this faithfulness you offer life and love back to this person. You are offering them a chance to, if you will, feast on the love and faithfulness of God in a way that they might not have been able to see. This is a tradition that can be carried on through the year, especially in seasons that may be lonely like Christmas, Valentine’s Day or even birthdays and other significant anniversaries.

[1] Walter Brueggemann, Prayers for a Privileged People. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2008)