Light the third outer candle, with the previous two candles already lit.
Read Lamentations 3:1-2, 16-27
I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light… He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.” Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, “Therefore I will hope in him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
Reflect So often we think of Advent
simply as a time of celebration and remembrance.
However, Advent is as much a time of waiting and longing
as it is a time of celebration.
For it is in the season of Advent where we both thank God for coming
and long for his return.
And in our longing we are faced with the painful reality
that all is not yet well.
For our desperate longing and waiting for Jesus’ return
is grounded in the sorrow of the pain, chaos, and sin
that exists around and within us.
And in the moments we feel the burden of sorrow creeping into our beings,
because we can no longer numbly watch the brokenness that is ever before us,
we may feel—like the author of Lamentations—
that we have forgotten what happiness is and that our hope has perished.
And yet, in our sorrow and in our grief,
we can place our hope in the faithfulness of the Lord,
who is with those who wait on him.
Allow yourself to feel the sorrow
of the brokenness around and within you.
Invite the Lord into your grief
and when you are able,
search for the glimmer of hope that he provides.
Where do you see hope in the darkness?
Pray Lord, so often the weight of our broken world is too much to bear.
We ask that you would be near to us,
that you would comfort us,
and that you would give us peace—even when it feels impossible.
God, thank you for being good to us as we wait on you.
Thank you for hearing our cries and pleas for hope.
