At my house on Sunday, we lit one candle. Just one.
The slow increase of light from the Advent wreath is central to December for me. Blue candles in a circular holder spend the month in the middle of our dinner table. Each night, we sing a verse or two of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” lighting just one candle in the darkness for a week. Then, the next week, there are two small flames. Then three. Finally, four candles together light the darkness . . . and Christmas draws close.
While the rhythms of campus life help shape December for us all, the slow progress of Advent offers comfort in the midst of all sorts of “holiday” chaos and end-of-the-semester stress. Yes, projects and finals loom. Friends or roommates struggle. Deadlines and goals draw close. Yet Advent’s slow, steady pace brings peace into the upheaval. Calm confidence in the love and presence of a God who comes to us in so many surprising ways. Hope for a transformed world. Certainty that God is with us.
Once again, in quiet contrast to the frenzied world around us, God offers something else, something more. As you enjoy the festive holiday season, bear in mind that the core of it all is the faithful, insistent presence of God, coming to places we’d never expect. Bringing love, hope, and justice for those who need it most, and maybe seem least deserving.
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel.
Prayer
Come, God who is with us.
Bring light into the darkness of my life.
Dispel what separates me from the people around me.
Heal the burdens I struggle carry.
Fill me with hope for a world of love and compassion and your kind of justice . . .
. . . justice that values what seems worthless, uses what seems useless, redeems what seems lost.
Help me to see you in the unexpected places where you are.
Come.
Amen.