Advent Prayer: Showing Up Just as We Are
Advent Prayer: Showing Up Just as We Are
The season of Advent invites us into a place of hope and vulnerability. It's a time of waiting, of anticipation, of acknowledging our deepest needs even when—especially when—we feel least prepared to receive grace.
Prayer, at its most authentic, isn't about perfection. It's about presence. It's about showing up exactly as we are—broken, weary, uncertain—and simply being willing to turn our hearts toward something greater than ourselves.
Our GriefShare group has been that kind of experience. We began in September as individuals carrying a sorrow and have grown into a friendship where we help each other bear the load. It has been a beautiful thing to be a part of. We have welcomed two guests from beyond our CPC community, and they have found a place of welcome and acceptance.
Our Blue Christmas time of remembrance was also a moment to come together and hold space for our grief together. This season is a time of good cheer, but for those who have experienced loss, it can also poke us in some tender places. We took a moment to light a candle for the folks we were missing. We heard scripture and sang songs. And we closed with a benediction where we changed the light… I extinguished the candles and as the smoke rose, we saw that those who were gone were still with us in a different way. They went from existing in one place and time to being everywhere. It was a powerful moment.
Advent reminds us that hope often arrives in unexpected moments. Just as Mary accepted her unexpected journey, we too can learn to embrace prayer as an act of radical acceptance. It's about letting go of the need to have everything figured out, and instead, simply being present.
Author Anne Lamott offers these words about coming to God honestly in prayer:
“Prayer … begins with stopping in our tracks, or with our backs against the wall, or when we are going under the waves, or when we are just so sick and tired of being physically sick and tired that we surrender, or at least we finally stop running away and at long last walk or lurch or crawl toward something. Or maybe, miraculously, we just release our grip slightly.”
“Prayer is talking to something or anything with which we seek union, even if we are bitter or insane or broken. (In fact, these are probably the best possible conditions under which to pray.) Prayer is taking a chance that against all odds and past history, we are loved and chosen, and do not have to get it together before we show up. The opposite may be true: We may not be able to get it together until after we show up in such miserable shape…. “
As we journey through Advent, perhaps the most transformative prayer is simply the willingness to be present. To stop. To breathe. To acknowledge our true condition. To trust that we are loved not because we are perfect, but simply because we are.
This Advent, may we find the courage to pray not from our strength, but from our weakness. May we learn that showing up—just as we are—is itself a powerful form of prayer.
Go make peace, my friends.
Pastor Leanne
Community Presbyterian Church
32202 Del Obispo
San Juan Capistrano. CA 92675
949-493-1502
info@sjcpres.org