Fourth Sunday of Advent Prayer :: Advent Bidding Prayer

A prayer of intercession for the end of Advent (or Christmas Eve) when all four Advent candles (hope, peace, joy, love) have been lit.

Holy One, be the light in our darkness tonight.
As we have lit the candle of hope,
we pray for those who feel hopeless . . .

As we have lit the candle of peace,
we pray for all victims of violence . . .

As we have lit the candle of joy,
we pray for those whose hearts are weighed down by sorrow . . .

As we have lit the candle of love,
we pray for those who do not feel loved,
for those who struggle to love others . . .

Holy One, be the light in our darkness tonight,
that we might reflect your light into the dark corners of our world. Amen.

Taken from: http://re-worship.blogspot.com.ar/2012/11/prayers-of-people-advent-4.html
Written by Joanna Harader, and posted on her Spacious Faith blog: http://spaciousfaith.com/   

Advent Pilgrimage

“The ancient practice of pilgrimage beckons us to find the places of connection between the terrain inside us and the topography around us, whether it’s the landscape of the natural world, or of a story, or of a season. Pilgrimage calls us to give ourselves to the terrain that we may find foreign or unsettling and to open ourselves to the sacred and surprising places that it holds. Altered by our engagement with these places, we are able to reenter the familiar territory of our lives and see it with different and deeper vision.”
 ~ Jan L. Richardson (Through the Advent Door: Entering a Contemplative Christmas, “Door 10: The Pilgrim’s Coat”)

A Sonnet for the New Liturgical Year

Advent and the new church calendar year began Sunday, November 30. Here is a sonnet and poem to begin the season.

Prologue: Sounding the Seasons
By Malcolm Guite 
Tangled in time, we go by hints and guesses,
Turning the wheel of each returning year.
But in the midst of failures and successes
We sometimes glimpse the Love that casts out fear.
Sometimes the heart remembers its own reasons
And beats a Sanctus as we sing our story,
Tracing the threads of grace, sounding the seasons
That lead at last through time to timeless glory.
From the first yearning for a Saviour’s birth
To the full joy of knowing sins forgiven
We start our journey here on God’s good earth
To catch an echo of the choirs of heaven.
I send these out, returning what was lent,
Turning to praise each ‘moment’s monument’.

Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year
By Malcolm Guite
(https://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/)