Darkest Night Liturgy
MUSIC
Curated by Laura Thiessen
O Come O Come Emmanuel, hymn arrangement
What Child Is This, hymn arrangement
O Little Town of Bethlehem, hymn arrangement
O Come All You Unfaithful by Sovereign Grace Music
Liturgical Pieces by Scott Wall
RESPONSIVE PRAYER
We begin with a responsive prayer. The Christian tradition has for centuries sung a series of songs in the final seven days of Advent known as the O Antiphons. These are short, poetic phrases drawn from the words of ancient Hebrew pleas, which people gather and sing: ”O Come, O Come…Wisdom, Key of David, Emmanuel.”
And in this tradition, the antiphon for Dec 21st, this longest night, Is a prayer for the Divine to come as morning light.
LEADER: O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight
ALL: We wait and look for You, O Day-spring.
LEADER: O Shining Light,
in-breaking on all heavy hearts
left weary by long delay.
Come, and let all that shrouds and presses in
be held at bay, for your mercy’s sake.
ALL: We wait and search for You, O Shining Light.
LEADER: O Rising Sun,
You are the splendour of eternal light
and the sun of justice.
O come and enlighten those who walk in darkness
and through the shadow of death.
ALL: We wait and look to You, O Rising Sun.
REFLECTIVE PRAYER
Over the next few moments I will offer you a series of prompts
To acknowledge the darkness that surrounds you in this season,
To be truthful about how, perhaps, you feel far from Christmas joy,
To be surrounded by others, even as you sense the weight of so much going on around us.
So, take a breath - to be here.
To be in your body.
To be present to Spirit that fills and steadies you.
And I ask you -
In the space of your heart and mind to name a loss that is present to you,
Or whatever grief you carry.
The anger you hold against all that is not as it should be,
To name someone you know who is struggling,
To name your doubt and how it seems so hard to hold on to faith.
Even as we pray:
Loving God,
Give us grace to see and feel the light that dawns in our honesty.
In the gifts of feeling and grieving, in offering and receiving comfort.
And I ask you -
To name something you are longing for,
To name what unwanted change you’ve faced,
How you’ve had to move on, how you’ve been pushed aside,
How change has taken something from you,
Or, to name what change you desperately wish would come
In relationships, in your mental health, in all the turmoil of our world.
Even as we pray:
Loving God,
Give us grace to see and feel the light that finds us in each change we navigate;
In supportive connections, in new found perspective, in self-awareness that settles us in anxious moments.
And I ask you -
To think of where you were a year ago, who you were a year ago,
To admire what was best of you then,
To extend some compassion to yourself, given all you’ve been through these last twelve months,
And let us each name what emotions we carry as Christmas draws near;
How we’re worn out and spent, how we’ve reached the end of our capacity,
How we long to be expectant, and grateful, and hopeful for the days ahead.
Even as we pray:
Loving God,
Give us grace to see and feel the light that comes to us in unfolding, passing time.
In the slow work of moving forward,
In the incremental work of becoming ourselves,
In the practices of facing fear, confessing need, and contending for justice that is needed.
In our honesty, in each change we face, in the unfolding of our lives —
We pray, come, thou long expected Jesus.
Come, O morning light.
Amen.
BENEDICTION
Adapted from Celtic Daily Prayer
God of the watching ones,
The waiting ones,
The slowly suffering ones,
God of angels in heaven,
And of the child in the womb,
And of grieving ones,
Of shame-filled ones,
Of those wandering and searching,
Of those ill and weak and fading,
Give us Your peace,
Your good word for our souls,
That we might rest and rise
In the kindness of Your company,
Holding hope that light will come.
Amen.
