Advent Stirrings

Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. BCP 1549

Happy Advent!  The prayer quoted above is from the Book of Common Prayer, 1549 and echoes of it are recalled in the Collect for the Third Sunday of Advent:

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

Stir up….

Are you stirred up???

For some of us the “stir up” prayer is a reminder of the Advent message to recollect and recall the continuing salvation story. The same God who stirred up nothingness and created a universe, then stirred up John the Baptist to begin crying in the wilderness, stirred up the shepherds and the magi to follow a star, and stirred up the hearts of many to follow and worship the incarnate King.

Are you stirred up???

For those in the Church of an earlier age, the “stir up” prayer was a reminder to get ready – to prepare those recipes that required time to age and mature for the Christmas feast. Christmas would not be the same without the work of preparation. Advent brings with it a call to stir up our lives with a leaven that rises over time.

Are you stirred up???

Really are YOU stirred up? Is there a part of you that is growing and expanding? Are you feeding and nurturing the part of you that needs to see new life? Is your spirit breathing in all that is around you in a way that sustains you spiritually?

Are you stirred up???

Are you praying that the same God who created our universe stirs up on you something that will grow and flourish? Are you prepared to live with the realities of new life, new hope, and new challenges?

Advent is upon us and it is my pray that God will use this time to stir up in us the desire to participate more fully in God’s Mission in the world. That new things will grow up and come to life in this place and this community. I invite you to a prayerful and holy Advent, and share with you the Advent bidding prayer from our Book of Occasional Services:

Beloved in Christ, in this season of Advent, let it be our care and delight to prepare ourselves to hear again the message of the Angels, and in heart and mind to go even unto Bethlehem, to see the Babe lying in a manger.

Let us read and mark in Holy Scripture the tale of the loving purposes of God from the first days of our disobedience unto the glorious Redemption brought us by his holy Child; and let us look forward to the yearly remembrance of his birth with hymns and songs of praise.

But first, let us pray for the needs of the whole world; for peace and goodwill over all the earth; for the mission and unity of the Church for which he died, and especially in this country and within this city.

And because this of all things would rejoice his heart, let us at this time remember in his name the poor and the helpless; the hungry and the oppressed; the sick and those who mourn; the lonely and the unloved; the aged and the little children; and all those who know not the Lord Jesus, or who love him not, or who by sin have grieved his heart of love.

Lastly, let us remember before God his pure and lowly Mother, and all those who rejoice with us, but upon another shore and in a greater light, that multitude which no one can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and whom, in this Lord Jesus, we for evermore are one.

The Almighty God bless us with his grace; Christ give us the joys of everlasting life; and unto the fellowship of the citizens above may the King of Angels bring us all. Amen.