Advent Perspective: An Advent Prayer

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

An Advent Prayer

The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who lived in a land of deep darkness -

on them light has shined.

Isaiah 9:2 (NRSV)

O come, O Bright and Morning Star

And bring us comfort from afar

Dispel the shadows of the night

And turn our darkness into light

From "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"

as translated by John Mason Neale

For many, the Christmas season began nine days ago, on the day after Thanksgiving Day.  That day is commonly known as Black Friday, for retailers hope to get back "in the black," so to speak, as people begin shopping for Christmas presents.

The Church, on the other hand, has not rushed straight into the Christmas season, for both of the high holy days on the Church calendar are preceded by more somber seasons of preparation.  Today is the first Sunday in Advent, the season that precedes Christmas.  During this season, churches light candles for hope, peace, joy, and love, and we who are Christians remember that, like the ancient Jewish people who awaited a Messiah and the age of peace He would bring, we wait for the One we believe to be this Messiah to come back into the world to set all things right.

As I've noted previously, I've come to view Advent as a season of longing.  We light candles for hope, peace, joy, and love, not because we are experiencing these things, but because we long for them.  We long for our Savior to return and set things right in the world, because we know that not all is right with the world.

A few years ago, as my understanding of Advent was evolving, I wrote an Advent prayer for an assignment for a class on leading prayer.  I've dusted off this prayer and made some revisions, and I offer it to you today, hoping that, as we light candles for hope, peace, joy, and love this season, we will remember those who desperately need them.

Most loving and gracious God,

we live in a world oppressed by darkness.

Help us to be ever mindful

of those who are desperate to see the light of Christ.

Lord, in Your mercy,

hear our prayer.

Encourage those who are trapped in despair,

and lift them out of their desperate situations,

that they may experience the hope You bring.

Lord, in Your mercy,

hear our prayer.

Bring tranquility to those who live in places of fear -

war zones on the other side of the globe

and violent households down the street -

that they may know Your peace, which passes all understanding.

Lord, in Your mercy,

hear our prayer.

Comfort those who are trudging through a time of sorrow,

that they may feel the joy of being in Your presence.

Lord, in Your mercy,

hear our prayer.

Heal the hearts of those who are afflicted by hate -

those who have received the hatred of others

and those who harbor hatred for others -

that they may know You, the One who is love itself.

Lord, in Your mercy,

hear our prayer.

Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us,

that we may reflect the light of Christ

into the places of darkness around us.

Lord, in Your mercy,

hear our prayer.

These things we ask in the name of Christ,

who came into the world as a Light to humanity,

the Word of God made flesh,

Light from Light,

true God from true God.

Amen.

Advent is the darkness before the dawn.  It is a season of longing for salvation from things like despair, fear, sorrow, and hate.  It is a season for those of us who look at the darkness in the world around us and, like the ancient prophet, desperately wish that God would rip open the heavens, come down to earth, and do something about it.¹  It is a season when we remember that it was a dark world into which the Light of the World came and that the darkness does not overcome the Light.²


Notes:

1. Isaiah 64:1-2
2. John 1:5

The photograph of the Advent candles was taken by me in December 2014 at Bethel United Methodist Church in Greenville, South Carolina.