Advent, Day 3

It is you who light my lamp;
the LORD, my God, lights up my darkness.

—Psalm 18:28

“I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness.”

—John 12:46

LOOK: Self-Portrait by Stamatis Laskos

LISTEN: “Lighten the Darkness” | Words by Frances Mary Owen (1842–1883) | Music by Sam Connour, 2017 | Performed by Lowana Wallace with Matt Froese, 2017

Lighten the darkness of our life’s long night,
Through which we blindly stumble to the day.
Shadows mislead us; Father, send Thy light
To set our footsteps in the homeward way.

Lighten the darkness of our self-conceit,
The darkness that we love so well,
Which shrouds the path of wisdom from our feet,
And lulls our spirits with its baneful spell.

Lighten our darkness when we bow the knee
To all the gods we ignorantly make
And worship, dreaming that we worship Thee,
Till clearer light our slumbering souls awake.

Lighten our darkness when we fail at last,
And in the midnight lay us down to die;
We trust to find Thee when the night is past,
And daylight breaks across the morning sky.

For more Advent songs by Sam Connour, see the album St Fleming of Advent, released under the moniker Lo Sy Lo.