[Our theme this Sunday was Advent Music and the joy we can have as we anticipate the coming of Christ into the world. The Chancel Choir sang several anthems including the one above, “It Don’t Have to Change” by John Legend. It’s a song that longs for the good old days but also celebrates that our love for each other never needs to change. The video below is our Bell Choir playing an arrangement of “The Little Drummer Boy.” Our church is so blessed by our music ministry.]
Lord, it is true, that some things don’t have to change.
Some things like your love for the world through the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ. Some things like our love for each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. Some things like love, peace, joy and hope as represented by our four Advent candles. Some things like growing in what it means to have a loving faith, a learning faith, and a living faith. O Lord, thank you that some things don’t have to change.
But we also know that some things do change. Some things like new experiences and perspectives. Some things like having more of an open mind. Some things like becoming more patient, more loving, more thankful, more forgiving. Some things like being less judgmental, less critical, less hurtful. Some things like new understandings of scripture and our approach to faith.
Lord, guide us in discerning the difference between what doesn’t have to change and what does need to change.
Lord, thank you for this Sunday of music to help us prepare for what the shepherds heard so long ago in announcing the birth of your Son. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among all people.”
In this season of Advent, this time of waiting, this time of anticipation, thank you for giving us a song that points us to the good news of your coming. Thank you for giving us a song, not just in a pew at church, but also in our places of work, in the classroom, on the streets, in the nursing home, in our neighborhoods, in our homes, in the surgery waiting area, in line at the grocery store, at the Convo, in every single place we may be, thank you for giving us a song to sing that always points us to you and reminds us that we are not alone for you are our Emmanuel, our God with us.
We pray this in the name of Jesus; the one who is to come, and the one who taught us to pray together, “Our Father, who art in heaven…”
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