The traditional Elizabethan English prayer listed above is the closing collect for the Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols service that IWS is hosting this Sunday, December 8. This prayer beautifully summarizes the spiritual focus of the Advent season.
Advent emphasizes what has been described by theologians as the “already, but not yet,” the time between the first and second comings of Jesus, between the Kingdom unveiled and the Kingdom fulfilled. In a sense, the “already but not yet” is also the time between our own births and deaths. In Advent we hear anew the call to order our affairs rightly, to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly before God. We are reminded not be mistaken-there is an end coming, both our own and the consumation of all things in the Lord’s return. But, the end leads to a more glorious restoration, a true fulfillment.
Meanwhile, we wait and watch in active vigilance by ordering our homes and our lives according to God’s revelation in scripture and His presence among us.
Thanks be to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.