A priest and performer considers religion, the arts, and the often thin space between sacred and secular, church and culture, pulpit and pew.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

The Way of Advent - Stations Eleven and Twelve, and Concluding Prayers

Eleventh Station – John the Baptist Anticipates the Coming of the Christ 
(Mark 1:7-8)

Our King and Savior now draws near:
Come among us and save us, we pray.

John proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

V.  Here is the Lamb of God
R.  Who takes away the sin of the world.

Let us pray. (Silence)

Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.     (Book of Common Prayer, 211)

Savior of the nations, come!
Virgin’s Son, make here your home.
Marvel now, both heaven and earth,
that the Lord chose such a birth.
               - Martin Luther (after Ambrose of Milan)
               The Hymnal 1982, #54  st. 1



Twelfth Station – The Fulfillment of the Reign of God (Rev. 21:1-4a)

Our King and Savior now draws near:
Come among us and save us, we pray.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes.

V.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
R.  See, I am making all things new.

Let us pray. (Silence)

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, 236)

Come, O Father’s saving Son,
Who o’er sin the vict’ry won.
Boundless shall your kingdom be;
Grant that we its glories see.
               - Martin Luther (after Ambrose of Milan)
               The Hymnal 1982, #54  st. 4


Concluding Prayers

Our King and Savior now draws near:
Come among us and save us, we pray.

Let us pray. (Silence)

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, 211)

Go in peace.
Thanks be to God.

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