Advent, Day 1: Redeemer, Come

At Christmas, we celebrate how light entered into darkness. But first, Advent bids us to pause and look, with complete honesty, at the darkness. Advent asks us to name what is dark in the world and in our own lives and to invite the light of Christ into each shadowy corner. To practice Advent is to lean into a cosmic ache: our deep, wordless desire for things to be made right. We dwell in a world shrouded in sin, conflict, violence, and oppression. . . .

Before the delight of Christmas, Advent invites us to a vulnerable place—a place of individual and communal confession where we honestly name unjust systems, cultural decay, sorrow, the sin of the world, and the sin in our own lives. Only by dwelling in that vulnerable place can we learn to profess true hope. Not cheap hope, spun from falsehoods, half-truths, or denial, but a hope offered by the very light that darkness cannot overcome.

—Tish Harrison Warren, Advent: The Season of Hope, pp. 32–33

LOOK: Luminarias by Juan Francisco Guzmán

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LISTEN: “Come, Oh Redeemer, Come” by Fernando Ortega, on Give Me Jesus, 1999 | Performed by MissionSong (musicians of The Mission Chattanooga Parish), 2020

Father enthroned on high
Holy, holy
Ancient, eternal Light
Hear our prayer

Lord, save us from the dark
Of our striving
Faithless and troubled hearts
Weighed down

Refrain:
Come, oh Redeemer, come
Grant us mercy
Come, oh Redeemer, come
Grant us peace

Look now upon our need
Lord, be with us
Heal us and make us free
From our sin [Refrain ×2]

Father enthroned on high
Holy, holy
Ancient, eternal Light
Hear our prayer