Advent 1
Preaching
Hear My Voice
Preaching The Lectionary Psalms for Cycles A, B, C
Object:
"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (v. 6). What better way could there be for us to begin the Advent season than by focusing our prayers on peace? The word, shalom, translated "peace," means much more than the mere absence of conflict. And of course, it is not only Jerusalem that is in need of peace; the whole world needs the shalom that the psalmist dreams about. So perhaps we should expand the breadth of this prayer, and deepen it with our awareness of the various meanings of the Hebrew idea of peace.
Pray for healing in our world. Shalom includes the idea of wholeness, or what we might describe as "healing." Africa is wracked by a devastating AIDS epidemic. Hundreds of thousands of people die weekly of this horrible disease. Our prayer for peace on earth cannot overlook the healing of the sick.
Healing is also needed in our political affairs. Our own country is frequently and angrily divided along partisan lines. Building a sense of national unity after a campaign is difficult because the rhetoric is so heated and so divisive. Pray for the healing of our land, that we may see ourselves as neighbors once again.
Pray for the feeding of the world. The Hebrew idea of shalom includes the notion of prosperity. In our culture, prosperity is the measure of everything; in the rest of the world, the lack of prosperity is the measure of misery. It is hard not to imagine that the two things are connected. Our great wealth is out of proportion to our size. America is only six percent of the world's population, yet we control most of the world's resources. Our prosperity contributes to the poverty of others. Perhaps if we prayed for the feeding of the world, our obsession with material gain could begin to give way to a more balanced view of the meaning of life.
Pray for the end of war. Shalom does include in its various meanings the cessation of conflict. As we begin our journey toward our celebration of the birth of the Savior, let us pray that we can find a way out of the warfare and bloodshed that marks so much of our world. Let us pray that we will find a way to use our great gifts of mind, heart, and faith to solve the problems we now fight about. For the sake of the presence of God in our midst, let us pray that we will seek only the good for everyone.
Pray for the peace of our Jerusalem.
-- J. E.
Pray for healing in our world. Shalom includes the idea of wholeness, or what we might describe as "healing." Africa is wracked by a devastating AIDS epidemic. Hundreds of thousands of people die weekly of this horrible disease. Our prayer for peace on earth cannot overlook the healing of the sick.
Healing is also needed in our political affairs. Our own country is frequently and angrily divided along partisan lines. Building a sense of national unity after a campaign is difficult because the rhetoric is so heated and so divisive. Pray for the healing of our land, that we may see ourselves as neighbors once again.
Pray for the feeding of the world. The Hebrew idea of shalom includes the notion of prosperity. In our culture, prosperity is the measure of everything; in the rest of the world, the lack of prosperity is the measure of misery. It is hard not to imagine that the two things are connected. Our great wealth is out of proportion to our size. America is only six percent of the world's population, yet we control most of the world's resources. Our prosperity contributes to the poverty of others. Perhaps if we prayed for the feeding of the world, our obsession with material gain could begin to give way to a more balanced view of the meaning of life.
Pray for the end of war. Shalom does include in its various meanings the cessation of conflict. As we begin our journey toward our celebration of the birth of the Savior, let us pray that we can find a way out of the warfare and bloodshed that marks so much of our world. Let us pray that we will find a way to use our great gifts of mind, heart, and faith to solve the problems we now fight about. For the sake of the presence of God in our midst, let us pray that we will seek only the good for everyone.
Pray for the peace of our Jerusalem.
-- J. E.
