A Concord Pastor Comments: Pause for Prayer: SUNDAY 12/3

OK... Thanksgiving is over -
BUT... it's NOT yet Christmas!
ADVENT begins this weekend, December 3.
LET'S BEGIN Advent here with this great tune from Godspell -

and then Pause for Prayer...

Help me prepare a way for you, Lord,
   in the crazy rush of Christmas all around me...

Help me remember that Christmas is your birthday,
   that I need to find gifts to offer you...

Help me remember the poverty of your nativity, Lord:
   make your way into my wallet and help me spend generously
      on those whose needs are so much greater than my own...

Help me remember that of all the that gifts I might receive,
none is greater than the love you have for me...

Help me prepare a way for you to enter my life decisively, Lord:
   a way for you to take me as your own,
   to summon out what I shall be,
   to become what you call me to be...

Help me prepare a way for you
   to take possession of my desires,
   to fill me with the gifts that bring me the greatest peace,
gifts that satisfy my longing for the deepest joy...

In the quiet of my prayer, Lord,
   help me clear a path for you
      to walk into my heart, into my day...

Help me want to clear that path, Lord,
   lest anything or anyone keep me from your advent,
      from your coming to my heart in mercy and with peace...

In the stillness of my prayer, Lord,
show me how to clear and make a path for you,
      free of all the roadblocks I put up,
a path for you to enter and come in
      to fill me with your presence...

Help me prepare a way for you, Lord,
   as you prepare my heart
      for all the ways you come to me...

Amen.