# Groaning Day 1 > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God. ### Opening Prayer: *Lord, I was ever greedy of life, my attention always straining toward the parts of it that had not yet come…toward what was about to be, or might be, or hopefully would be, and especially toward those things that, by Your mercy, might turn out not to be after all.* *I panted with longing to suck each segment of life dry of its pleasures. I plotted, with myself but despite myself, about tomorrow…about the “later” that was constantly morphing into now. You know how I worked, Lord, recklessly but prayerfully, to set time’s courses and, in Your name, to sculpt them to my intention, to my definition of good.* *But I am old now, Lord, and my prayers grown old as well. So it is that daily I am drawn, as here, to pray, “Deliver me, My Lord, from this my great sin, and take me, free of doubt and other longings, into Your good plan.” (Prayer by Phyllis Tickle, Weavings, Volume XXV, Number 4)* #### Psalm for the Week: Psalm 31 #### Into Your Hand I Commit My Spirit #### To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. *31 In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;let me never be put to shame;in your righteousness deliver me!* *2 Incline your ear to me;rescue me speedily!Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me!3 For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me;4 you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge.5 Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.6 I hate[a] those who pay regard to worthless idols,but I trust in the Lord.7 I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,because you have seen my affliction;you have known the distress of my soul,8 and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;you have set my feet in a broad place.9 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief my soul and my body also.10 For my life is spent with sorrow,and my years with sighing;my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.* *11 Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach,especially to my neighbors,and an object of dread to my acquaintances;those who see me in the street flee from me.12 I have been forgotten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.13 For I hear the whispering of many—terror on every side!—as they scheme together against me,as they plot to take my life.* *14 But I trust in you, O Lord;I say, “You are my God.”15 My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!16 Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love!17 O Lord, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon you;let the wicked be put to shame; let them go silently to Sheol.18 Let the lying lips be mute, which speak insolently against the righteous in pride and contempt.* *19 Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear youand worked for those who take refuge in you,in the sight of the children of mankind!20 In the cover of your presence you hide them from the plots of men;you store them in your shelter from the strife of tongues.* *21 Blessed be the Lord, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to mewhen I was in a besieged city.22 I had said in my alarm,[b]“I am cut off from your sight.”But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help.* *23 Love the Lord, all you his saints!The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage,* *all you who wait for the Lord!* #### Scripture for the Day: Romans 8:18-27 #### Future Glory *18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.* *26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because[a] the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.* #### Reading for Reflection: *Ultimately the season of Advent is a season of groaning; the groaning of our hearts and the groaning of our God. It is the groaning that comes from a deep longing for all to be as it was intended. Thus, it is a season where we fully recognize and embrace our sadness and frustration that all is not as it should be; rather than attempting to escape, avoid, or deny it. The world has gone terribly wrong, it is filled with decay and death, suffering and sadness, sorrow and pain; and yet, in the midst of it all, God meets us in a beautifully mysterious way. He meets us in a way that we couldn’t be met otherwise—making this groan both a trust-filled embracing of where he has us, as well as a deep yearning for so much more—for deliverance and restoration; healing and wholeness.* *Therefore, Advent is a season in which we watch and wait. It is a time in which we are filled with hope and with longing—hope that our Creator will finally intervene, and longing that he will enter into this world and set everything right once more; restoring all things to their creation intent.~Jim Branch September 2010* #### Reflection and Listening: silent and written #### Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself #### Song for the Week: O Heart Bereaved and Lonely *O heart bereaved and lonely,* *Whose brightest dreams have fled* *Whose hopes like summer roses,* *Are withered crushed and dead* *Though link by link be broken,* *And tears unseen may fall* *Look up amid thy sorrow,* *To Him who knows it all* *O cling to thy Redeemer,* *Thy Savior, Brother, Friend* *Believe and trust His promise,* *To keep you till the end* *O watch and wait with patience,* *And question all you will* *His arms of love and mercy,* *Are round about thee still* *Look up, the clouds are breaking,* *The storm will soon be o'er* *And thou shall reach the haven,* *Where sorrows are no more* *Look up, be not discouraged;* *Trust on, whate'er befall* *Remember, O remember,* *Thy Savior knows it all* ### Closing Prayer *Loving God, the earth moans, in need of your healing. Help me be a peacemaker today—one who carries your vision and takes the small actions that contribute to healing for the world. Amen. (The Uncluttered Heart by Beth A. Richardson)*