Advent reflection day 9
Opening Prayer for each day
Lord of light and the darkness,
May your Spirit guide our preparations for Christmas.
Help us to seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day.
In our anxiety may we look forward to your coming among us and be blessed by the joy of your presence.
When we feel as if we are walking in darkness may we see your light as we say,
“Come, Lord Jesus!” Amen.
Psalm 103. 8-13
Refrain: The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
The Lord is full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness.
He will not always accuse us, neither will he keep his anger for ever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our wickedness.
For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy upon those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west, so far has he set our sins from us.
As a father has compassion on his children, so is the Lord merciful towards those who fear him.
The words of todays psalm speak of the enduring compassion of the Lord, a Lord who meets us where and who we are. It is about love, a boundless love.
Hymn writers Charles Wesley have picked up this theme in words like:
Love Divine, all love excelling,
Joy of heav’n, to earth come down;
Fix in us Thy humble dwelling,
All Thy faithful mercies crown.
Jesus, Thou art all compassion;
Pure, unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation,
Enter every trembling heart.
And modern hymn writers Stuart Townend, Keith Getty & Kristyn Getty continue to hold onto to the theme of the Divine ‘compassion’ in the hymn ‘There is an everlasting kindness you lavish on us’:
What boundless love, what fathomless grace
You have shown us, O God of compassion.
Each day we live an offering of praise
As we show to the world Your compassion.
Psalm 103 is like a Gospel hymn, it has been said that this psalm might have ‘come straight from the pages of the New Testament – even more specifically, from the Gospels themselves’.
We bring our time of reflection to an end with the great hymn by Charles Wesley, Love Divine
Love Divine, all love excelling,
Joy of heav’n, to earth come down;
Fix in us Thy humble dwelling,
All Thy faithful mercies crown.
Jesus, Thou art all compassion;
Pure, unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation,
Enter every trembling heart.Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit
Into every troubled breast;
Let us all in Thee inherit,
Let us find the promised rest.
Take away the love of sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith, as its beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty.Come, Almighty, to deliver,
Let us all Thy life receive;
May Thy presence e’er be with us,
Never more Thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
Serve Thee as Thou wouldst approve,
Pray, and praise Thee without ceasing,
Glory in Thy perfect love.Finish, then, Thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see Thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee;
Changed from glory into glory
Till with Thee we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before Thee,
Lost in wonder, love and praise.
Merciful Lord,
as we come from dust and return to dust,
show us the face of our Redeemer,
that in our frailty we may bless your name
and praise you all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Prayer Shared from ‘Reflection on the Psalms’ app. Material subject to copyright)
May God the Son, coming among us in power,
reveal in our midst the promise of his glory.
