Comfort, be comforted

and pulled at the elastic string with her tiny fingers. We covered it with hemlock branches and pine, and then circled around it three times with prayers about her brothers cat and, then, her cat. (They both had fleas.) We lit the candle for “HOPE", and then she read the words from the prophet Isaiah. Her favorite was "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light..”

“When it’s dark at night,” she said, “I look for the moon.”

Children never fail me. At Advent, they remind me see beauty, pray for the ones in my care, find ways to help with my hands, and, when when it gets dark, to look for the light.

Welcome, Advent. Comfort us with your light of hope and help us to prepare for love.

Amen.

Comfort, give comfort to my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
that her service is at an end,
her guilt is expiated;
indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD
double for all her sins.

A voice cries out:
In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!
Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill shall be made low;
the rugged land shall be made a plain,
the rough country, a broad valley.
Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Go up on to a high mountain,
Zion, herald of glad tidings;
cry out at the top of your voice,
Jerusalem, herald of good news!
Fear not to cry out
and say to the cities of Judah:
Here is your God!
Here comes with power
the Lord GOD,
who rules by his strong arm;
here is his reward with him,
his recompense before him.
Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;
in his arms he gathers the lambs,
carrying them in his bosom,
and leading the ewes with care.

Isaiah 40, 1-5, 9-11