Waiting for Daybreak
Advent 2011
The season of Advent is like the night before the dawning of the new day. The world is at its darkest, and we are waiting for:
God’s re-creation of the new day which the hymn ‘Morning has broken’ speaks of.
The Hebrew Scriptures speak often of this waiting.
I waited, I waited for the Lord
and he stooped down to me;
he heard my cry.
Psalm 40:2
We wait in this dark winter time, like a monastic community rising to pray in the night, like the guard on the city wall, looking for the first sign of dawn, and looking forward to the feast when Jesus comes and:
By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us.
Luke 1:78
So we pray:
As watchmen wait for the morning,
So do we wait for you, O Lord.
Come to us, at the dawning of the day,
and make yourself known to us
in the breaking of bread.
Amen
Bill Rogers
Team Priest, Forest and Avon Team
Assistant Rural Dean, Alderbury Deanery
This prayer is from Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England (2000), which is copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2000.
http://www.churchofengland.org/