Advent IV

Love

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ, give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous, and all for your love’s sake. Amen.

This prayer has been on my mind as I’ve been reflecting today on the Winter Solstice and the Longest Night. The promise of this day is that starting tomorrow, the light will return. But still, it is dark. A lingering dark. And even with the return of light, the dark is still our constant companion—an inevitable part of the human experience.

What if in the dark, we remember one another? Some of us are joyous and others are weeping. Some are working, some are dying, some are finding sleep and others find it hard to come by. Some live close, some live far. Some are like us, some are not. Yet we are all human.

So tonight, I have this prayer on my heart. Asking God to draw close, for love’s sake. It is the message of this Advent season. That in the birth of Jesus, God drew close to us. All of us. For love’s sake.

You are not alone in this long night. You are loved. You are seen. You are remembered.

For love’s sake.

As a seasonal practice this year, I will be offering a Sunday reflection on each of the weekly themes of Advent: hope, peace, joy, and love. For a little added flavor, I will be posting a daily photo around the week’s theme on my Instagram and Facebook pages. To follow along, you can subscribe to the blog posts, and see the photos on IG (@hajames) and FB (@heatherane) if you are so inclined.

What’s playing on repeat this fourth week of Advent: 
Christmas Hymn (PrayTell: Jon and Valerie Guerra, with guest Paul Zach)