Prayers of the People, Advent 3A

​Spirit God,
you love us so much
you came into the world
as flesh and blood,
just as you promised
through the prophets of old.
Incarnate among us,
you brought love and light,
healing and wholeness,
mercy and compassion,
justice and righteousness,
forgiveness and grace.
As we journey toward the manger
this Advent season,
looking for you to make yourself known
in the darkest corners of our lives,
in the angriest mobs,
in the poorest of neighborhoods,
in the most corrupt of our systems,
in our brokenness
and in our pain,
we beg you to come to us ...
and to your people
of every shape and color and gender and orientation,
in every culture and every practice,
in prison cells and refugee camps,
in congressional meeting halls and student classrooms,
in hospital rooms and funeral parlors,
in low-income housing as well as palaces ...
and speak to us of hope.
Embolden us to speak truth to power
that those who suffer needlessly
may suffer no more.
Teach us to be peacemakers, we pray.
Open our ears to listen to the voices of those
who have been sent
to prepare the way of the Lord,
and fan into flame the spark of joy
you breathed into us in the beginning
when all of creation was declared good.