Daily Scripture Reflection & Prayer: December 4, 2023

Date: 1st Sunday of Advent

Scripture Text: ISAIAH 63:16B-17, 19B; 64:2-7

You, LORD, are our father, our redeemer you are named forever. Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways, and harden our hearts so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage. Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you, while you wrought awesome deeds we could not hope for, such as they had not heard of from of old. No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you doing such deeds for those who wait for him. Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways! Behold, you are angry, and we are sinful; all of us have become like unclean people, all our good deeds are like polluted rags; we have all withered like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the wind. There is none who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to cling to you; for you have hidden your face from us and have delivered us up to our guilt. Yet, O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter: we are all the work of your hands.

Breaking the text open – background and summary:

On this first day of Advent, it is appropriate that we focus on the reason for Christ’s first coming, the Father Almighty’s desire for our salvation and for a reconciliation with humanity. This prayer from Third Isaiah written sometime after the return of the exiles from Babylon calls out to the LORD, our Almighty Father, worker of such wondrous deeds in the history of humanity, whose power and presence have been our rock. This prayer acknowledges that the faithful were not acting “faithfully,” that they had turned away from the LORD yet again, and “There is none who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to cling to You.” But, and it is a powerful but, the prophet calls out to the LORD, acknowledging that the LORD is our Father, our creator. This is a prayer to stir us to turn to the LORD so that we might actually see that it is not the LORD who has moved away, it is us.

Meditating on the text with personal questions:

Will I use this call to “turn back” at this season of Advent to spiritually, emotionally, and physically “turn back” to the LORD? Will I allow the LORD’s desire for my salvation to penetrate my mind, my heart, my soul? Will I allow the LORD to form me into the one I was created to be?

Praying:

LORD, Almighty Father, always and everywhere, throughout the ages, You have been the power and presence of love, creating us, guiding us, calling us into being your daughters and sons. You sent your only begotten Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, among us as our brother to redeem us and to reconcile us to You. Through His selfless sacrifice upon the cross, He conquered sin, and through His resurrection, He conquered death. Grant that we may be filled anew with the awe and wonder of your power and presence and open ourselves fully to the power of your love. We ask this in the name of your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Spirit, one LORD, forever and ever. Amen.