Advent prayer

During Advent we wait for the coming of the Christ child.  Christmas has come and we rejoice.  Still, we wait.

A Prayer on the Fourth Sunday of Advent 

O God in heaven,

We light the fourth candle and wait.

We wait for light to pierce the darkness.

We wait for the lost to return.

We wait for calm to follow the storm.

We wait for all babies to be loved by their parents.

We wait for soldiers to return home.

We wait for immigrants to feel welcomed.

We wait for the lonely to gain a friend.

We wait for the forlorn to find shelter.

We wait for the depressed to experience lasting hope.

We wait for the heart-broken to mend.

We wait for the addicted to find a safe circle.

We wait for the socially awkward to find a place of acceptance.

We wait for the embittered to know a soft heart.

We wait for the materialistic to find beauty in the simple.

We wait for the hungry to sit down to a lavish feast.

We wait for the songless to hear the strains of the Messiah.

We wait for the desperate to know that their redeemer liveth.

We wait for the abject sinner to find lasting salvation.

We wait for the warrior to be transformed into a peacemaker.

We wait for our cowardice to turn into bravery.

We wait for divisions to be seen as opportunities for conversation.

We wait for the promiscuous the chance to learn the joy of faithfulness.

We wait for the stumbling sinner the chance to get it right.

We wait for the marriage gone cold the rebirth of love’s devotion.

We wait for the rich the ability to understand how the bottom tier lives.

We wait for foster children a steady, loving home.

We wait for ethnic divisions to be replaced by mutual understanding and respect.

We wait for dismissive attitudes to be transformed into active interest in the other’s well-being.

We wait for pregnant teenage girls a caring mentor.

We wait for those who mourn the rest of a peaceful tomorrow.

We wait for the child without an education the opportunity to enter a library.

We wait for the vengeful the ability to turn the other cheek.

For all that we wait for we pray that the light that shone in Bethlehem,

the light and hope of Jesus

might be born anew in us today, and in all who seek him still.

Amen.