Advent Prayer

Advent — from the Latin adventus, meaning "arrival" or "coming" — is the liturgical season that opens the Christian year, spanning the four Sundays before Christmas. Its observance as a distinct season of preparation and expectation is attested from at least the fourth century in the Western church, and the practice of dedicating special prayers to this waiting period is nearly as ancient. The Advent Prayer in its various traditional forms reflects three dimensions of Christian expectation: the remembrance of Israel's long wait for the Messiah; the commemoration of Christ's incarnation at Bethlehem; and the watching for His return at the end of the age. This threefold orientation gives the season — and its prayers — a peculiar depth that distinguishes Advent from a simple pre-Christmas season. The scriptural backbone of Advent prayer is drawn primarily from the prophetic books of the Old Testament, particularly Isaiah. Isaiah 9:6 — "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" — has been central to Advent liturgy since the early church identified these titles as fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. The prophecy was set magnificently by George Frideric Handel in Messiah (1741), cementing its place in the Western Christian imagination. The call to wakefulness drawn from Romans 13:11-14 — "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep" — provides Advent prayer with its moral and ascetic dimension. The season is not merely celebratory but penitential, a time for examining one's life in light of Christ's coming. This is the reason that Advent shares with Lent the liturgical color violet in the Roman and Anglican traditions: both seasons call the faithful to watchfulness and conversion. The Benedictus canticle (Luke 1:68-79), sung by Zechariah at the birth of John the Baptist, supplies Advent prayer with its tender poetic vocabulary. The image of the "dayspring from on high" (Luke 1:78), the dawning light that breaks into human darkness, has shaped the distinctive imagery of Advent — candles lit week by week against the shortening December days, a progressive illumination mirroring the approach of Christ. The earliest datable Advent collect appears in the Gelasian Sacramentary (c. seventh century), which instructs the faithful to pray for readiness at the Lord's coming. The more familiar petition "Stir up Thy power, and come" derives from the collect for the last Sunday before Advent in the Book of Common Prayer (1549), itself adapted from earlier Latin sources. In England, the phrase "Stir-up Sunday" passed into popular usage as a colloquial name for this Sunday, when housewives traditionally began mixing their Christmas puddings. The Advent antiphons known as the "O Antiphons" — O Sapientia, O Adonai, O Radix Jesse, O Clavis David, O Oriens, O Rex Gentium, O Emmanuel — are among the most ancient and beautiful of all Advent prayers, sung at Vespers on the seven days before Christmas Eve. Each addresses Christ by one of His Messianic titles drawn from Isaiah and the prophetic literature, and together they form an acrostic: reading the first letters in reverse gives the Latin words Ero cras, "Tomorrow I will come." This subtle hidden promise is considered one of the finest examples of theological artistry in the entire liturgical tradition. The O Antiphons were known to the Venerable Bede in the eighth century and were almost certainly older. The practice of the Advent wreath — four candles lit progressively on each Sunday — originated in Lutheran Germany in the sixteenth century and spread widely across Protestant and Catholic traditions by the twentieth century. The prayers accompanying each lighting of the wreath have become one of the most common forms of domestic Advent prayer in the modern era.

The Advent Prayer is most naturally prayed in the four weeks between late November and Christmas Eve, though its spirit of watchful longing is appropriate at any season when the soul feels the weight of waiting upon God. Begin by sitting quietly and allowing the silence to speak. Advent prayer is rooted in the experience of darkness preceding dawn — let the quiet of early morning or the stillness of night enhance this sense of expectancy. If praying with an Advent candle or wreath, light the appropriate candle or candles before beginning. Pray the prayer text slowly, letting each petition form itself fully in the mind before moving to the next. The opening cry — "Come, Lord Jesus, come" — is itself drawn from the final words of Scripture (Revelation 22:20). Pausing on these words alone can be a complete prayer. Allow each phrase drawn from the scripture references to open into reflection. What does it mean that Christ is "Wonderful Counsellor" in your present circumstances? Where in your life do you sit "in darkness and in the shadow of death," awaiting the dayspring? In family or household worship, the Advent Prayer pairs naturally with the lighting of the Advent wreath candles. Each Sunday of Advent traditionally carries its own theme — Hope, Peace, Joy, Love — and the prayer can be adapted to emphasize the theme of the week. For private devotion, consider reading one of the Advent O Antiphons alongside the prayer, working through all seven in the final week before Christmas. The titles of Christ contained in them — Wisdom, Lord of hosts, Root of Jesse, Key of David, Bright and Morning Star, King of the nations, Emmanuel — can expand the imagination of what it means to wait for Him. Close the prayer with a period of silent expectation. Advent prayer is not merely the offering of words but the posture of a waiting soul — the posture of Israel across centuries, of the Church across millennia, and of every believer who has said with longing: Come, Lord Jesus.