Advent Prayer

We begin the Christian new year with prayer, calling out for God's kingdom to come. 

For the next twelve months, we will learn from the book of Matthew about God's kingdom. We have much to discover, but we start with a yearning for the reign of God in the world. We begin with desperation for something different -- a kingdom we cannot elect or build. It is a kingdom we invite, or rather, a kingdom we have been invited into. "Advent" means "coming", and we call out to Jesus to come even as he calls out to us. We can't wait to be together. 

Our prayer for this Advent follows themes from the prophecies Matthew cites as he begins his gospel. The stanzas of the prayer are drawn from themes in each week's passage. They help us voice to God our longing to witness and be part of the story he has told from the beginning. 

Wednesday evenings (and more often if you like) Urban Lighters will light a candle, remembering God's light comes to those who are in darkness. It may seem small, but we are going to see what prayer does as we practice it. We may long for God to come in big, obvious ways. Yet at Advent, we practice waiting like those whose senses are trained in the dark to notice the first signs of dawn. 

Advent Prayer 2025

King of heaven and earth,

We have done what we can
as nations, communities, and families.
We confess that we need intervention
beyond what the powers of people have achieved.

Draw us away from chasing greatness.
Train our hearts to find you in the small places
where we expect to accomplish little.   

Have mercy on us.
Restore what is broken.
Make right everything that has gone wrong.
Make yourself known. 

We offer ourselves to you.
Write us into your story. 

Give us the grace to usher into our hard and stubborn world
your kingdom born anew:
small and growing.
Amen.