Good Evening Beloved Community!
Happy day of Sabbath Rest! I hope all off you are doing well. We are experiencing dangerous wildfire season here in California. It is so bad that the area schools will be closed tomorrow due to the dangerous air quality. Nothing #Prepares you for this. This morning when I woke up, the lighting from outside was very eerie and driving to church was like going to a late afternoon service only it was morning. Nothing #Prepares you for this! So how do we #prepare for these strange times in which we live, move, and just be? It all depends on what the circumstances are. Time after time I keep remembering Jesus sage piece of wisdom and that was being always "#Prepared". Last year I thought I was #prepared but like the foolish and unprepared bridesmaids I wasn't. So how do we #Prepare ourselves for events that feel like the proverbial door hitting us in the face? That is where our time together tonight comes into play. But first let's do our daily #AdventWord definition on #Prepare:
pre·pare
[prəˈper]
VERB
prepares (third person present) · prepared (past tense) · prepared (past participle) · preparing (present participle)
make (something) ready for use or consideration:
"prepare a brief summary of the article"
synonyms: make/get ready · put together · draw up · produce · arrange · assemble · construct · compose · formulate
(prepared)
created in advance; preplanned:
"the spokesman was reading a prepared statement"
make (food or a meal) ready for cooking or eating:
"she was busy preparing lunch"
synonyms: cook · make · get · put together · concoct · fix · rustle up
make (someone) ready or able to do or deal with something:
"schools should prepare children for life" · "by this time I was prepared for anything" · "she took time off to prepare for her exams"
synonyms: get ready · make preparations · arrange things · make provision · get everything set· train · get into shape · practice · get ready · study · review · instruct · coach · train · tutor · drill· prime · brace · make ready · tense · steel · steady · ready · (all) set · equipped · primed · waiting · on hand · poised · in position
(be prepared to do something)
be willing to do something:
"I wasn't prepared to go along with that"
synonyms: willing · ready · disposed · predisposed · (favorably) inclined · of a mind · minded
make (a chemical product) by a reaction or series of reactions.
(in conventional harmony) lead up to (a discord) by means of preparation.
ORIGIN
late Middle English: from French préparer or Latin praeparare, from prae ‘before’ + parare ‘make ready.’
++++++
Tonight everyone needs to #prepare the following 8 daily lists and complete each one daily for the week to come.
List 1: Disaster planning a.k.a. Where is your get ready and go kit?
This picture in Facebook is really helpful:
List 2: End of life wishes? Have you had the conversation?
List 3. Do you have an escape plan for you and your family if you have to get out of your house?
Draw a schematic diagram.
List 4: Do a health genealogy? Who has had what disease and condition that might be hereditary?
List 5: Make sure your faith community has copies of your end of life wishes and begin to talk about your funeral arrangements. Don't leave it to your family members. Interview mortuaries and find one that will meet your needs.
List 6: Decide what is important for you to keep in your home. This is the De-clutter list.
List 7: Take time to begin reconciling with people you need to make things right. It really does help.
List 8: Take time to begin to start a new chapter in your life. Where are you headed? What is God calling you towards. List the spiritual things that you want to prepare yourselves for in the weeks to come during this Advent Season.
++++
These are just a few suggestions ! And now let us prepare our hearts and minds to make vigil and pray for all who are being affected by the wildfires and other disasters in our country and throughout the world.
Come and save us, * O Lord God of hosts.
Come and save us, O Lord God of hosts.
Show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved:
O Lord God of hosts.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Come and save us, O Lord God of hosts.
V. Show us your mercy, O Lord:
R. And grant us your salvation.
Prayer Over The Advent Candle
O God, as light comes from this candle,
May the blessing of Jesus Christ come to us,
Warming our hearts and brightening our way.
May Christ our Savior
Bring life into the darkness of this world,
And to us, as we wait for his coming.
Amen.
(www.catholicnewsagency.com)
O God, as light comes from this candle,
May the blessing of Jesus Christ come to us,
Warming our hearts and brightening our way.
May Christ our Savior
Bring life into the darkness of this world,
And to us, as we wait for his coming.
Amen.
(www.catholicnewsagency.com)
Advent
Arise, O Jerusalem, stand upon the height and look toward the
east, and see your children gathered from west and east at the
word of the Holy One. Baruch 5:5
Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down
righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation may spring up,
and let it cause righteousness to sprout up also. Isaiah 45:8, NRSV
85 Benedixisti, Domine
Psalm 85:1-2,8-13;
1 You have been gracious to your land, O Lord, *
you have restored the good fortune of Jacob.
2 You have forgiven the iniquity of your people *
and blotted out all their sins.
Psalm 85:1-2,8-13;
1 You have been gracious to your land, O Lord, *
you have restored the good fortune of Jacob.
2 You have forgiven the iniquity of your people *
and blotted out all their sins.
8 I will listen to what the Lord God is saying, *
for he is speaking peace to his faithful people
and to those who turn their hearts to him.
9 Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him, *
that his glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth have met together; *
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
11 Truth shall spring up from the earth, *
and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
12 The Lord will indeed grant prosperity, *
and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness shall go before him, *
and peace shall be a pathway for his feet.
for he is speaking peace to his faithful people
and to those who turn their hearts to him.
9 Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him, *
that his glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth have met together; *
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
11 Truth shall spring up from the earth, *
and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
12 The Lord will indeed grant prosperity, *
and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness shall go before him, *
and peace shall be a pathway for his feet.
A Song of the Wilderness
Isaiah 35:1-7,10
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, *
the desert shall rejoice and blossom;
It shall blossom abundantly, *
and rejoice with joy and singing.
They shall see the glory of the Lord, *
the majesty of our God.
Strengthen the weary hands, *
and make firm the feeble knees.
Say to the anxious, “Be strong, do not fear! *
Here is your God, coming with judgment to save you.”
Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, *
and the ears of the deaf be unstopped.
Then shall the lame leap like a deer, *
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness *
and streams in the desert;
The burning sand shall become a pool *
and the thirsty ground, springs of water.
The ransomed of God shall return with singing, *
with everlasting joy upon their heads.
Joy and gladness shall be theirs, *
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away
Isaiah 40:1-11
40Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries out:
‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’
6 A voice says, ‘Cry out!’
And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’
All people are grass,
their constancy is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades,
when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades;
but the word of our God will stand for ever.
9 Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good tidings;*
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,*
lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,
‘Here is your God!’
10 See, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead the mother sheep.
The Song of Mary Magnificat
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in you, O God my Savior, *
for you have looked with favor on your lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed: *
you, the Almighty, have done great things for me,
and holy is your name.
You have mercy on those who fear you *
from generation to generation.
You have shown strength with your arm *
and scattered the proud in their conceit,
Casting down the mighty from their thrones *
and lifting up the lowly.
You have filled the hungry with good things *
and sent the rich away empty.
You have come to the help of your servant Israel, *
for you have remembered your promise of mercy,
The promise made to our forebears, *
to Abraham and his children for ever.
2 Peter 3:8-15
8 But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. 9The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you,* not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. 10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.*
11 Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness,12waiting for and hastening* the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? 13But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.
14 Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; 15and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him,
A Song of Faith
1 Peter 1:3-4,18-21
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, *
by divine mercy we have a new birth into a living hope;
Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, *
we have an inheritance that is imperishable in heaven.
The ransom that was paid to free us *
was not paid in silver or gold,
But in the precious blood of Christ, *
the Lamb without spot or stain.
God raised Jesus from the dead and gave him glory *
so that we might have faith and hope in God.
Mark 1:1-8
2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,*
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,*
who will prepare your way;
3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight” ’,
4John the baptizer appeared* in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.6Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7He 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. 8I have baptized you with* water; but he will baptize you with* the Holy Spirit.’
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,*
who will prepare your way;
3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight” ’,
4John the baptizer appeared* in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.6Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7He 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. 8I have baptized you with* water; but he will baptize you with* the Holy Spirit.’
With Hope, love, peace, and joy!
Sara
No comments:
Post a Comment