Preparing for the Fourth
Sunday of Advent
Year C

Daily Readings for Friday
December 17, 2021

Prayer

O Shepherd of Israel, 

you gently support the one who is with child 

and call forth the Lamb who dances in the womb. 

Stir our hearts to recognize Christ’s coming, 

as Elizabeth recognized his presence 

in Mary’s radiant obedience to your desire, 

and open our souls to receive the one 

who came to love your flock. Amen.

Psalm 80:1-7

Show the light of your countenance

 

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,

you who lead Joseph like a flock!

You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth

before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.

Stir up your might,

and come to save us!

Restore us, O God;

let your face shine, that we may be saved.

Lord God of hosts,

how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?

You have fed them with the bread of tears,

and given them tears to drink in full measure.

You make us the scorn of our neighbors;

our enemies laugh among themselves.

Restore us, O God of hosts;

let your face shine, that we may be saved.

 

Isaiah 42:10-18 

Sing to God a new song

 

Sing to the Lord a new song,

his praise from the end of the earth!

Let the sea roar and all that fills it,

the coastlands and their inhabitants.

Let the desert and its towns lift up their voice,

the villages that Kedar inhabits;

let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy,

let them shout from the tops of the mountains.

Let them give glory to the Lord,

and declare his praise in the coastlands.

The Lord goes forth like a soldier,

like a warrior he stirs up his fury;

he cries out, he shouts aloud,

he shows himself mighty against his foes.

For a long time I have held my peace,

I have kept still and restrained myself;

now I will cry out like a woman in labor,

I will gasp and pant.

I will lay waste mountains and hills,

and dry up all their herbage;

I will turn the rivers into islands,

and dry up the pools.

I will lead the blind

by a road they do not know,

by paths they have not known

I will guide them.

I will turn the darkness before them into light,

the rough places into level ground.

These are the things I will do,

and I will not forsake them.

They shall be turned back and utterly put to shame—

those who trust in carved images,

who say to cast images,

“You are our gods.”

Listen, you that are deaf;

and you that are blind, look up and see!

 

Hebrews 10:32-39 

Confidence that rewards

 

But recall those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and persecution, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting. Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it brings a great reward. For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet

 

“in a very little while,

the one who is coming will come and will not delay;

but my righteous one will live by faith.

My soul takes no pleasure in anyone who shrinks back.”

 

But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and so are saved.

 

 

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Prayer reprinted from Revised Common Lectionary Prayers, © 2002 Consultation on Common Texts. Reproduced by permission.

Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts admin. Augsburg Fortress. Reproduced by permission. No further reproduction allowed without the written permission of Augsburg Fortress.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.


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