by Sarah Bourns Crosby
The Christian tradition of Advent is a season of both remembrance and looking ahead, of waiting and stillness. Whether you use this devotional guide over the dinner table, with a small group, or individually, we pray it will enrich your life in Christ this Advent season. For those who wait, wander, and weep, for those experiencing loss, longing, and love this Christmas—may you come to know afresh that He is with you.
READ
Genesis 1:1–3; Exodus 10:21–23; Isaiah 9:2; Luke 1:26–33; John 1:1–5; Revelation 21:1–6, 22–26
LET THERE BE LIGHT
A poem to dispel the darkness
Christmas began
In the beginning
In stillness, in emptiness,
In nothingness
A blanket of silence, an overpowering absence
A void, a vacuum, the universe a blank canvas
But where darkness covered
The Spirit hovered
His Fullness filled the stillness
His Voice broke the silence
And into the night, He spoke,
Let there be Light.
The people of Egypt, enveloped
In a thick cloud of darkness
The long night of the ninth plague
A blanket of blackness
While the Hebrew slaves
Sang in the daylight,
Their desert land
Bathed in bright white
With a cloud by day, and fire by night
Yaweh led them, out of the darkness
And into the Light
The prophet saw his people
Walking in a land of deep darkness
Wandering, lost, broken and blind
Watching for a glimmer of hope
Waiting for the sun to shine
And into the night, he spoke,
Wait, just wait, for the Light.
The angel appeared to Mary
In a time of oppression, injustice, unrest.
Her people yearning and aching
For someone to save them from their distress.
He announced this way of salvation
A strange declaration
Good news of peace and great joy
A virgin girl to deliver the Light of the World
God—as a baby boy.
And over the darkness, he said,
It is done.
Behold,
Your Light has come.
And at the end of time
There will be no night
And no more need for the sun.
For the Son of God
The Messiah King
Will be our Eternal Light.
A PROMPT
As you light the Christ candle, look back over your life (like the people of Israel rehearsed and remembered their history). Pick a memory or two when you saw Jesus meet you in the darkness. How did He bring light?
Wherever it may be dark for you today, unknown or unclear, blurry or bleak, would you invite Jesus to shine bright as Christmas morning dawns?
Sarah Bourns Crosby writes poetry around themes of hope, waiting, lament, love, and God’s faithfulness. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and twin sons. You can read more of her work at sarahbournscrosby.com.