Praying Advent: Day 21
Praise
Lauds (Traditional hour: dawn/waking up)Laudate, omnes gentes, laudate Dominum! [Sing praises, all people, sing praises to the Lord!]We greet the new day by praising the Creator.
Opening:
Praise the Lord, O my soul:Praise God’s holy name.
Scripture
They rose early in the morning and worshipped before the
Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the
Lord remembered her. In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, ‘I have asked him of the
Lord.’The man Elkanah and all his household went up to offer to the
Lord the yearly sacrifice, and to pay his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, ‘As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, that he may appear in the presence of the
Lord, and remain there for ever; I will offer him as a nazirite for all time.’ Her husband Elkanah said to her, ‘Do what seems best to you, wait until you have weaned him; only—may the
Lord establish his word.’ So the woman remained and nursed her son, until she weaned him. When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the
Lord at Shiloh; and the child was young. Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. And she said, ‘Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the
Lord. For this child I prayed; and the
Lord has granted me the petition that I made to him.Therefore I have lent him to the
Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the
Lord.’She left him there for the
Lord.
-1 Samuel 1:19-28 NRSV
Meditation
How can you or your community open yourselves to people in need of rest and relief from overwork? From oppression? From violence?
Prayers
Come, Emmanuel, come dwell with me.Hope of the world and Word of life:Come, Emmanuel, come dwell with me.
Going Out
Praise the Lord, O my soul:Praise God’s holy name.
Prayer form adapted from:1Daily prayer for all seasons. (2014). New York, N.Y.: Church Publishing.