Litany for the Second Week of Advent

by Christine Sine

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.
In this Advent season we await the coming of Christ

Come, Lord Jesus, come, We await your coming.

We await the coming of God’s revealing light,

Come, Lord Jesus, come, We await your coming.

We await the coming of God’s saving hope,

Come, Lord Jesus, come, We await your coming.

We wait the coming of God’s redeeming child,

Come, Lord Jesus, 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 expectation of your coming,

We wait in hope for your promises,

We wait in joy for your salvation.

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.

(Read Scripture for the Day)

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 to our lives

We wait with all the peoples of the earth,

Child of hope we welcome your coming,

Christ of life we welcome your coming,

King of glory we 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 Lord Jesus and lead the captives from their prisons,