A prayer in Advent
Christ of my heart, I can feel your nearness. I want so badly to touch you and feel you with me. I hear stories of violence, war and voices calling out to the love they know is You and I imagine your heart pulled toward these calls--reaching out to touch them, too. I am waiting for you to enter again and to defy all sense of reason by that arrival. I am not so naive as to believe the first Christmas healed divisions, made peace and clarified who you were to be, immediately--only that I crave the nearness of Emmanuel--God with us & Word made flesh. It is with trepidation that I ask, because Your birth is both liberating and binding. Liberating as you name our lives 'holy ground'--worthy of your presence; binding because of the work you began, continues with the work of our hands and hearts. I pray that this final week of Advent prepares my heart for the bold hope of nearness, paired with stamina to continue to hunger amidst the feasting for the world that you would give us. Amen Katie Cassady, Unexpected Honey