Hope, justice and charity
A prayer
Father, all powerful and ever-living God,
we do well always and everywhere
to give you thanks
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
When he humbled himself to come among us, he fulfilled the plan you formed long ago and opened for us the way to salvation.
Now we watch for the day, hoping that the salvation promised us will be ours when Christ will come again in his glory.
And so, with all the choirs of angels in heaven we proclaim your glory and join in their unending hymn of praise:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest.
A thought – Hope, justice and charity
“During Advent opportunities for works of charity abound calling out for Christians from every side: a sack of food for a needy family, money dropped in a Salvation Army kettle, a donation to an Indian school, a toy for ‘Toys-for-Tots,’ etc. Unfortunately, these works of charity so easily can assuage the Christian conscience, while doing nothing to being about a solution to the root causes of the problem.
“Works of justice, on he other hand, follow the road less traveled of Advent’s hope to pursue solutions for difficult problems. Hope comes through works of justice rather than simply performing works of charity.”
Advent praise – O come, O come Emmanuel
A haunting version of this well known Advent hymn
http://choralmusic.com/audio/emmanuelexpectedjesus.mp3