Advent Prayer for December 14

DECEMBER 14

 

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Philip Brooks (1867)

 

O holy Child of Bethlehem,

Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in,

Be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels

The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,

Our Lord Emmanuel!

 

            It is often in the songs of our faith that our corporate prayers are most fully lifted to heaven.  In this familiar carol, Brooks uses simple phrases to speak to the desire of our hearts:  descend to us, cast out our sin, enter in, be born in us, come to us, abide with us. 

            What strikes me in these words is that this is what God is already doing, has already done, in the birth and the resurrection.  Jesus descended – “he made himself nothing” (Phil. 2:7).  He came to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29).  He became Emmanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23).  He is born in us (John 3:16).  He has come to us (John 1:14), and he promises to abide with us (John 15).  

            Yet these words remain prayers of petition, of invitation in the present.  Even as all of these actions were completed through the incarnation of Christ, they remain a welcome to be extended, a choice to be made day by day in the lives of seekers, of followers, of the faithful.  Descend, cast out, enter, be born, come, abide.  

            In the seldom-used fourth verse of Brooks’ original carol, he reminds us of the approach to these prayers: “faith holds wide the door.”  O holy Child of Bethlehem, this we pray, in faith believing.  Amen. 

 

Prayer Focus:  open doors