He will come like last leaf's fall.
One night when the November wind
has flayed the trees to the bone, and earth
wakes choking on the mould,
the soft shroud's folding.
He will come like frost.
One morning when the shrinking earth
opens on mist, to find itself
arrested in the net
of alien, sword-set beauty.
He will come like dark.
One evening when the bursting red
December sun draws up the sheet
and penny-masks its eye to yield
the star-snowed fields of sky.
He will come, will come,
will come like crying in the night,
like blood, like breaking,
as the earth writhes to toss him free.
He will come like child.
—Rowan Williams
Prayer
In this Advent of expectation
draw us together in unity,
that our praise and worship
might echo in these walls
and also through our lives.
In this Advent of expectation
draw us together in mission,
that the hope within
might be the song we sing,
and the melody of our lives.
In this Advent of expectation
draw us together in service,
that the path we follow
might lead us from a stable
to a glimpse of eternity.
Workshop of Paolo Uccello, Italian, Madonna and Child, c. 1470-75
J. S. Bach, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland from BWV 62, Cantata for the First Sunday of Advent. The Monteverdi Choir and The English Baroque Soloists, cond. John Eliot Gardiner
Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, der Jungfrauen Kind erkannt, daß sich wunder alle Welt, Gott solch Geburt ihm bestellt.
Now come, Saviour of the heathen, seen as the Virgin's Child, so that the world marvels that God ordained such birth for Him.
May the Lord, when he comes, find us watching and waiting. Amen.