01C*
A Call to Worship
Advent 1C 2012
Psalm 25: 1-10

Guiding God, show us the pathway that we should walk with you.
Leading God, you bless us as we seek each day to live in your ways.

Trustworthy God, we come, lifting up our souls and our whole being to you.
Hope-giving God, teach us your truth, for we daily place our trust in you.

God of unfailing compassion and love, in confidence we come to worship
and to honour your holy name, through our worship, witness and service.
We trust in God’s unfailing love and mercy, and in God’s faithful promises—
hoping, believing and knowing that our God is absolutely dependable. Amen.

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Prayers of Petition and Trust
Advent 1C 2012
Psalm 25: 1-10

Trustworthy God, we come before you today to worship and praise you.
We come as individuals but also as a community of believers, to affirm to
you, and to each other, that we always trust in God’s holy name and being.
Faithful God, we also come seeking your presence with us as we face the
difficulties and temptations of this day, and the struggles that lie in the future.
O Lord, you are always the same, so in you we place our hope and our trust.

Guiding God, we come to you as a community of faith, asking that you will
direct our pathway into the future as we are challenged by so many options
as to the best way to serve and honour your holy name. We believe that at
this time and in this place we are to be your witnesses, and so we ask that
you guide and bless us as we seek to serve you in this community where we
live and work, and where we believe you have called us to faithfully serve you.
Leading God, show us each day the path where we should walk to serve you.

God of our fathers and mothers, we give thanks for past blessings and for all
the people who have gone before us who trusted in you, and who were never
disappointed in their God’s grace, mercy and blessings. We give thanks that
God’s unfailing love was their guiding light, even though sometimes they failed
to fulfil all that God had asked of them. We give thanks that we worship a God
who forgives us, who always gives us another opportunity to be faithful in our
worship, witness and service. We give grateful thanks that our God does not
even remember the foolishness of our youth; our over-enthusiastic attempts
to love and serve others; or even the way we failed you and others in recent days.
Abiding God, we bless your holy name and give thanks for your eternal mercies,
and your faithfulness to your promises of merciful forgiveness to all who repent.
God’s unfailing love and faithfulness abides with all who trust and believe in him. Amen.

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A Personal Meditation
Advent 1C 2012
Psalm 25: 1-10

Holy God, some days I find it quite easy to raise my hands and arms in praises
to my Great God; but on other days, it is much harder, especially when I am so
conscious of my sin and my failure to love and serve others as God calls me to be
and do. Some people seem to be able to boisterously and lovingly throw up their
arms in praise to God, and I envy those people their spontaneity and exuberance.
However, I usually console myself with the thought that God sees and knows my
genuine desire and need to praise and honour God’s goodness and mercy; and
that I can do that in my own way through my passions and commitments for people
with special needs, and by my practical actions in spreading God’s the “Good News”.



Nurturing God, like everyone else, there have been times when I have failed in my
endeavours to honour and serve my God, because my passions and commitments
have taken me along my path instead of God’s pathway into the future. However,
I take great comfort in God’s promise: “No one who trusts in their God will ever be
disgraced, but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others.” May God forgive
me if I have ever knowingly or unknowingly deceived others through my passion
and desire to “simply help to make a difference” with suffering humanity, through what
I imagined and or dreamed were God’s causes or missions in the world around me.



Reliable God, you continue daily to be my Quiet Centre, the Focus of my being, and
the Breath-Giving, Life Giving presence in my life, and I give thanks for the real and
living confidence I have in God’s continuing presence with me. How comforting and
reassuring is that knowledge! How empowering are those experiences of God’s loving
presence that enables me to keep moving forward, whilst leaving behind me the pain
and distress of my past failures. Can I do anything else but praise my Generous God?

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Acknowledgements:
Unless stated otherwise, all Bible readings and extracts used in these weekly Prayers and
Meditations are from the ‘New Living Translation’, © 1996. Copyright. All rights reserved.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189 USA.

*The additional weekly numbering is from the Revised COCU Indexing Scheme
COCU = ('Consultation on Church Union'); as it offers an easy sequential numbering for the Revised
Common Lectionary for the Church Calendar.

If any part of these Prayers and/or Meditations is used in shared worship, please provide
the following acknowledgement:
© 2012 Joan Stott – ‘The Timeless Psalms’ RCL Psalms Year C. Used with permission.

jstott@netspace.net.au

Download/view a pdf file of this document here: advent1c_2012.pdf

© 2012 Joan Stott - "The Timeless Psalms" RCL Psalm Year C