I love our nation. I feel privileged to have been born and raised here. The opportunities seem to have no end, the freedoms only limited by safety for myself and others, the dreams only harnessed by energy and drive. This briefly describes me and possibly you—it does not describe countless numbers of our fellow citizens who have also been born here or come here legally. Herein lies our pain.
Our Pledge of Allegiance ends with the word “with liberty and justice for all.” While I think we can all agree these words do not describe an accomplished fact today, I suggest they can be our Advent prayer of Hope. The God of Advent Hope brings low the mountains of prejudice and favoritism brought on by color of skin, economic position, gender reality, sexual orientation, political preferences and the like and calls us all to “lift up our eyes to the hills from where our help will come.” Psalm 121:1.
Advent is a time of “new beginnings”, the time when “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16) so that all people regardless of differences might have the one ingredient in life we cannot live without—hope—and experience what he brings, “liberty and justice for all.” Our nation is blessed to have many freedoms; the freedom to worship as we choose high among them all. As the Advent God of hope comes to us, we can come to him and lay before him our hopes and dreams for all in our nation. We can shower him with our thanks for what he has given to us while committing ourselves to be carriers of his hope to all those living within our borders and beyond.
I love our nation and pray that as we move through the present pandemic we all may be singing the song that our God is a God for everyone, a God of Hope for everyone’s need.
Prayer: O come O come Immanuel. Amen
Evangelical Lutheran Worship # 887 “This is my Song” https://youtu.be/TnEP52UzK1M
Tomorrow: Hope gracing our personal lives
Pastor Jerry
