Morning Prayer: Advent - Hope
The Call to Prayer
The eyes of YHWH look on those who stand in reverence, on those who hope in God’s love.
Psalm 33:18
The Request for Presence
And so we wait for YHWH, our help and our shield.
Psalm 33:20
The Greeting
May your love be upon us, O God, as we place all our hope in you.
Psalm 33:22
The Hymn
Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us; let us find our rest in thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art,
dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart.
Born thy people to deliver; born a child and yet a king;
born to reign in us forever; now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal Spirit rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit raise us to thy glorious throne.
Charles Wesley
PCC Hymn #110 Come, thou long expected Jesus
The Refrain
For surely I know the plans I have for you, says YHWH, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.
Jeremiah 29:11
A Reading
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Romans 5:1-5
The Refrain
For surely I know the plans I have for you, says YHWH, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.
Jeremiah 29:11
The Psalm
How lovely is your dwelling place, O God Almighty!
My soul longs, indeed it faints for your courts; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O God of hosts, my Sovereign and my God.
Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise.
Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
As they go through the valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools.
They go from strength to strength; the God of gods will be seen in Zion.
O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob!
Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed.
For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live in the tents of wickedness.
For YHWH is a sun and shield who bestows favour and honour. God withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly.
O God of hosts, happy is everyone who trusts in you.
Psalm 84
The Refrain
For surely I know the plans I have for you, says YHWH, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.
Jeremiah 29:11
The Gloria
All praise, eternal Son, to thee,
whose advent sets thy people free,
whom, with the Father, we adore,
and Holy Spirit, evermore.
Charles Coffin (Latin), John Chandler (English translation)
PCC Hymn #126 On Jordan’s bank
The Lord’s Prayer
The Prayer Appointed for the Day
We pray that the God of our Saviour Jesus Christ, the God of all glory, will give us a spirit of wisdom and of revelation, to bring us to a rich knowledge of our Creator. We pray that God will enlighten the eyes of our minds so that we can see the hope that this call holds for us—the promised glories that God’s holy ones will inherit, and the infinitely great power that is exercised for us who believe. Our hope rests in this: the strength of God’s power at work in Jesus, the power used to raise Christ from the dead and to seat Christ in heaven at God’s right hand. Amen.
Adapted from Ephesians 1:17-20
The Concluding Prayer of the Church
God be in my head and in my understanding;
God be in my eyes and in my looking;
God be in my mouth and in my speaking;
God be in my heart and in my thinking;
God be at my end and at my departing.
R. Pynson (1514)