Piloting Faith: When we live in a posture of waiting, we are seized by two competing feelings...

A Word for the Day...

We are in the season of Advent, twenty-five days of waiting for the birth of Jesus, looking out for the ways that God is "breaking through" in our lives. I can imagine that for Mary, Jesus' mother, the waiting was excruciating. After all, she had to wait nine months. We have it easy.

For most of us, when we live in a posture of waiting, we are seized by two competing feelings: Fear of what we might discover and excitement for what it could mean for our lives. Imagine God being so passionately present that you finally realized that you are loved beyond imagination and that you are never alone.

Oh wait...that's it, right? That is the Advent breakthrough. Immanuel (עִמָּנוּאֵל), literally translated is "God is with us."

I'm praying for you in this Advent season that you know God loves you relentlessly and is hoping for your wholeness.

- Rev. Cameron Trimble, author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight

Prayer for the Week

God of kindness and courage,

Thank you for the hunger that is God-given. You created us to work, to play, to love, to give, to dream, to desire.

Provide for our daily necessities–you are the very bread of life–and help us to open ourselves to receive what you're holding out to us, even now.

Nourish us in every way. With your gift of fortitude, steady our walk and re-energize our determination. Help us to fix our gaze on what matters first and most.

Finally, be with us when it feels like we were those we love are descending into hell - when abandonment, devastation, or death looms. You've walked that path - you know our pain and fear.

Help all your people to stand with those who hunger for justice. Show us how to champion and even to become your provision in their lives.

You have promised that all who hunger will be filled. What a mystery! What a hope! Thank you, gracious God, that you are the bread of life, given freely to everyone. Today we open our deepest self to receive your blessing.

Amen.

(adapted from The Prayer Wheel by Patton Dodd, Jana Riess and David Van Biema)