If the lost word is lost, if the spent word is spent
If the unheard, unspoken
Word is unspoken, unheard;
Still the unspoken work, the Word unheard,
The Word without a word, the Word within
The world and the for the world;
And the light shone in darkness and
Against the Word the unstilled world still whirled
About the centre of the silent Word.
— T. S. Eliot

Advent is both a beginning and an end, an alpha and an omega of the church’s year of grace.  Too often considered merely a season of preparation for the annual commemoration of Christ’s birth, this rich and many-layered season is actually designed to prepare the Christian for the glorious possibilities of the parousia.  It is a season of longing expectation—Come, Lord Jesus”

Read and reflect on the passage.  What does Advent mean to you?  What are the “glorious possibilities” awaiting you?

As you prepare for prayer, light a candle, pay attention to the wonder that is light, the inviting flicker of a single lumen of light, and seek to appreciate the awesome mystery that is light.

Practice lectio divina using:
Now the Heavens Start to Whisper
Now the heavens start to whisper,
as the veil is growing thin. 
Earth from slumber waits to listen
to the stirring, faint within:  
seed of promise, deeply planted,
child to spring from Jesse’s stem! 
Like the soil beneath the frostline,
hearts grow soft to welcome him.
Heavy clouds that block the moonlight
now begin to drift away. 
Diamond brilliance through the darkness
shines the hope of coming day.
Christ, the morning star of splendor,
gleams within a world grown dim. 
Heaven’s ember fans to fullness;
hearts grow warm to welcome him.
Christ, eternal Sun of justice,
Christ, the rose of wisdom’s seed,
come to bless with fire and fragrance
hours of yearning, hurt, and needs. 
In the lonely, in the stranger,
in the outcast, hid from view,
child who comes to grace the manger,
teach our hearts to welcome you.
--Mary Louise Bringle  (Glory to God, Presbyterian Hymnal)