Soul Talk Advent Series 2019: Words to Live a Life by
Guest Blogger: Crystal Cryer
The beautiful post below was written by Crystal for our Advent Soul Talk: Tables of Hope. Maybe it could be one we all pray, around our tables and in our churches this Christmas - time.
Table of Hope
Father, this Advent, we remember the trust-filled yes of Mary to the ultimate act of hospitality - to host your Son within her with no thought of the cost to herself
Come, Father, enlarge our hearts with trust and selfless love
Lord Jesus, this Advent, we remember that there was no room for you when you came to this earth
May there always be room for you at the tables of our hearts and our lives as you come to us in your many forms
Come, Lord Jesus, enlarge our hearts to receive you always
Holy Spirit, this Advent, we remember how you filled Elizabeth with yourself when the baby within her leapt for joy in response to the Seed of Hope carried within Mary
Come, Holy Spirit, enlarge our hearts with hope and joy to share
Father, this Advent, we remember who you chose to include at your Son’s first earthly table. and we ask that you remove the unconscious walls within our hearts, transforming them into tables of hospitality and welcome
Come, Father, transform and enlarge our hearts
Lord Jesus, this Advent, we remember your anger in your Father’s house where hospitality was lacking and misused.
Overturn the tables in our hearts that too closely resemble those of the money changers
and make them into tables of generosity and hope
Come, Lord Jesus, purify and enlarge our hearts
Holy Spirit, this Advent, we remember the two on the road to Emmaus who, with burning hearts, invited a stranger to share their table and encountered unexpected hope.
Burn within us that we - even in the midst of our own fear, pain and messiness - would invite the stranger to share our table and encounter your great hope.
Come, Holy Spirit, warm and enlarge our hearts with your fire
Father, this Advent, as we prepare physical tables to receive others, we also prepare the tables of our hearts to receive your Son in all whom we welcome
Come, Lord Jesus, we make space for you
Lord Jesus, this Advent, we remember that you have come and that you are coming.
We ask now that you would come to the tables we prepare in the way that you came long ago - with subversive hope and quiet joy
Come, Lord Jesus, we long for your presence
Holy Spirit, this Advent, we long for the kingdom of God to break into our ordinary lives and be made manifest at our tables
Come, Holy Spirit, we welcome your life-creating power
Like Mary, we say yes and we pray, that by the power of your Holy Spirit within us:
Where there is rejection and exclusion
May we sow acceptance and welcome
Where there is defensiveness and fear
May we sow openness and love
Where there is loneliness and isolation
May we sow community and family
Where there is pain and suffering
May we sow comfort and healing
Where there is lack and need
May we sow the generous abundance of your kingdom
Where there is chaos and confusion
May we sow peace and clarity
Where there is darkness and despair
May we sow light and hope
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us,
to him be glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations, for ever and ever!
Amen.
Crystal loves hospitality, cooking, talking about prayer, the history of Celtic Christianity, all things nature, exploring new places and cultures, conversations over coffee (or a glass of red wine), reading and all things creative. She also leads 24-7 Prayer in Scotland.