Advent is a beginning. It serves to begin the church calendar, guiding God’s people in remembering the greatest gift we have received: God’s very self given to us in Jesus. The weeks leading up to Christmas help us to prepare our hearts, souls, minds, and strength to be the family of God, ready to receive our elder brother.
Every year, we begin again, for every year the nights are dark and the seeds of new creation have not fully blossomed. As a family, we turn to each other for hope, to remind each other why we wait and how to be the beacon in the darkness for the hopeless and the oppressed.
This year, I turn to God’s wisdom in the little-read and less-understood book Song of Songs for hope and wisdom, looking forward to knowing Wisdom intimately, being united with Christ, and being made one people who are one with God. Each week, the words of the prayers will be inspired by a reading of a portion of the book. This week, the words flow from meditation on chapters 1 and 2.
Many fine guides exist for readings done each day or each week in Advent, and I encourage you to find them and gain from participating in them. The words I write serve a different purpose.
These words that follow are prayers, offered to Christ as a love letter and a cry from the heart for the suffering still left in the world. Yet, Jesus is our hope, and all things will be made new. These words are prayers, that in praying them, we will be formed by them to bring us closer to the new creation we have been promised. These words are prayers, that we may stand to live new creation in the world to bring hope to the hopeless as God’s children and the light in the darkness.
Lord Jesus, you are worthy to be adored. We worship you in anticipation of knowing your love. Bring us into your presence.
We will rejoice and be glad. We will praise your love more than wine. Our hope is you.
The darkness of these days weighs down our hearts; we are bowed down under the weight of those who love injustice. Where are you and your good gifts, Lord?
Show us the beauty of your love. Help us to know your desire and your heart.
Reveal to us the bounty of life lived with you, the strength and vitality of your ways.
We will rejoice and be glad. We will praise your love more than wine. Our hope is you.
You planted us by the valley stream, tending our fruit, admiring our flowers among the thorns, our leaves amidst the desert. Sustain us, Lord, in this arid land and lift us up with justice. Bring us into the future we await.
You are coming, Lord. We hear your voice and the sound of your footsteps. You see us and call to us, and we answer.
We will rejoice and be glad. We will praise your love more than wine. Our hope is you.
You call us to come, to join you where you are, to rise up and stand.
Lord, show us your face. Let us hear your voice, for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.
You are our God, and we are your people.
We will rejoice and be glad. We will praise your love more than wine. Our hope is you.
Come, Lord Jesus.
An Old Song with a New Dance 