I wrote this litany several years ago for the Advent devotional Waiting for the Light but decided this year that it needed some revision and updating. I am very conscious this year that in Bethlehem and Jerusalem the Christmas festivities have been cancelled and some of my friends have decided not to have Christmas light displays this year. Should we light Christmas lights? Should we celebrate? I feel that we should, affirming that God’s light does shine in the darkness, but also with the remembrance of those for whom the light of Advent is still very dim and hidden.
The waiting is long and it isn’t easy, but a premature birth is harder still.
Please feel free to use part or all of it. Just acknowledge where you found it. Thanks. You might also like to check out this Celtic Advent Litany by John Birch
Litany for Second Sunday of Advent
In this Advent season we await the coming of Christ
Come, Christ of love, come, We await your coming.
We await the coming of God’s revealing light,
Come, Christ of love, come, We await your coming.
We await the coming of God’s saving hope,
Come, Christ of love, come, We await your coming.
We await the coming of God’s redeeming child,
Come, Christ of love, come, We await your coming.
(Pause for lighting of the Advent candles)
We wait for the God of life,
We wait for the Christ of love,
We wait for the Spirit of truth.
Come down, come in and dwell among us.
We wait in patient expectation for Christ’s coming,
We wait in hope for your promises to be fulfilled,
We wait in joy for your salvation to be fully revealed.
Come down, come in and dwell among us.
Come into the broken places of our world,
Come into Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, and all other places of violence,
Come into your broken and devastated creation.
Come down, come in and dwell among us.
Come into our hearts that we may love you,
Come into our minds that we may know you,
Come into our lives that we may serve you.
Come down, come in and dwell among us.
John 1: 1-18 (The Voice)
Before time itself was measured, the Voice was speaking.
The Voice was and is God. This celestial Word remained ever present with the Creator;
His speech shaped the entire cosmos.
Immersed in the practice of creating,
all things that exist were birthed in Him.
His breath filled all things
with a living, breathing light—
A light that thrives in the depths of darkness,
blazes through murky bottoms.
It cannot and will not be quenched.
A man named John, who was sent by God, was the first to clearly articulate the source of this Light. This baptizer put in plain words the elusive mystery of the Divine Light so all might believe through him. Some wondered whether he might be the Light, but John was not the Light. He merely pointed to the Light. The true Light, who shines upon the heart of everyone, was coming into the cosmos.
He entered our world, a world He made; yet the world did not recognize Him. Even though He came to His own people, they refused to listen and receive Him. But for all who did receive and trust in Him, He gave them the right to be reborn as children of God; He bestowed this birthright not by human power or initiative but by God’s will.
The Voice took on flesh and became human and chose to live alongside us. We have seen Him, enveloped in undeniable splendor—the one true Son of the Father—evidenced in the perfect balance of grace and truth. John the Baptist testified about Him and shouted, “This is the one I’ve been telling you is coming. He is much greater than I am because He existed long before me.” Through this man we all receive gifts of grace beyond our imagination. You see, Moses gave us rules to live by, but Jesus the Anointed offered us gifts of grace and truth. God, unseen until now, is revealed in the Voice, God’s only Son, straight from the Father’s heart.
Child of promise come,
Revealer of God come,
Bringer of life come,
Come to the beaten and the battered,
To the despised and rejected,
To all in whom the divine image is still distorted.
We wait in joyful expectation.
Not for a distant emperor but for a helpless babe.
Not for a prince in a gold palace, but for a displaced and frightened refugee.
Not for a man of power, but for a vulnerable infant.
Come to those outcast like shepherds in the field.
Come to foreigners like Magi watching from afar.
Come to rich and poor, young and old, male and female.
We wait in hopeful anticipation.
Come and bless all creation with your love,
Bring salvation on the earth,
Rule with justice and in peace.
Come Child of promise, open the windows of our hearts.
Come Christ of compassion, open the doors of our homes.
Come Prince of Peace, open the pathways of our lives.
We wait with all the peoples of the earth,
Child of hope we will welcome your coming,
Christ of life we will welcome your coming,
King of glory we will welcome your coming.
Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Come Jesus Christ our redeemer and lead the captives from their prisons,
Come Christ our Saviour, for in you we trust O bringer of life.
Come to bring peace in the midst of war and chaos,
Come Christ Our Protector, for in you we trust O bringer of life.
Come to offer love in hearts filled with hate and anger.
Come Christ Lover of our souls, for in you we trust O bringer of life.
Come to offer comfort in the presence of mourning and death,
Come Christ Our Comforter for in you we trust O bringer of life.
Come to provide abundance in the midst of hunger and starvation,
Come Christ Our Provider for in you we trust O bringer of life.
Come to show forth justice for those who are oppressed and abused,
Come Christ our Righteous One for in you we trust O bringer of life.
Let us put on hope to guide us,
Love to surround us,
Joy to sustain us,
Peace to inspire us.
And clothe ourselves with Christ.
Amen.