Wednesday December 21 Advent 4
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Psalm 72
A prayer that the king will rule with justice for the poor, and that as a result all will have more than enough to live fully. This can easily applied as a prayer for our political leaders today.
Early Christians saw in this psalm, perhaps originally intended as a prayer that king David would rule with justice, an affirmation of the new world order being instituted by the birth of Christ.
Isaiah 28: 9-22 What’s Isaiah about?
The leaders of Jerusalem need to be treated as babies, so they can learn the basics. They have made a contract with death to keep themselves safe, but God is stronger and God’s acts will seem incomprehensible to such people. Our world has also made a contract with death, by relying on military terror to bring peace. In the same way, God’s offer of peace won’t seem to fit well into our world. We are about to see that new kind of peace arrive in Bethlehem.
Luke 1: 26-38 What’s Luke about?
Like her relative, Mary is also unable to have a child but in her case due to her youth rather than old age. Like the priest Zechariah, her relative’s husband, she also has a vision of the coming birth. But unlike Zechariah who did not trust and became unable to speak, she affirms God’s intention and bursts into song.
This week’s collect:
Heavenly Father,
who chose the Virgin Mary, full of grace,
to be the mother of our Lord and Saviour,
now fill us with your grace,
that we in all things may embrace your will
and with her rejoice in your salvation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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