Wait and prepare

Advent puts the brakes on when much of the world wants to plunge right into full blown celebration of Christmas. Christians are invited to wait and prepare for the Lord who comes. A spirituality of waiting and preparation follows the biblical pattern set by the great Advent saints, St Mary the Virgin, waiting for the birth of her Son and St John the Baptist, preparing the way of the Lord. Both Advent saints are seen above either side of our Lord in this Cretan apse painting.

The poor of the world have no choice but to wait, for food, for shelter, for justice. Our Bishop's Advent Appeal is a way for us to be in solidarity with those who wait patiently, in this case the community of Sudanese refugees in Finland, waiting and preparing for the day when peace returns to their land, and young school children in Martissant outside Port-au-Prince Haiti, waiting for their school to be rebuilt, so they can prepare themselves to face the future with some hope.

God our rock and our salvation,
So much of faith is waiting,
Like a pregnant woman waiting in hope
Like a people under siege, holding out till relief comes
Like the soul lost in darkness, unable to see even a glimmer of light,
Yet stumbling through the night, because somewhere,
out ahead, day will surely break.
We pray for people who are waiting for the birth of a child
under the shadow of poverty or the uncertainty of displacement
We pray for people holding out till relief comes
from disaster, conflict or blockade,
We pray for souls lost in the darkness
of bereavement or sickness or despair
May we work and watch and wait with them
till the light of your day breaks through.