Advent

[burningbible]

In just half an hour the sun will set, and Christmas will officially begin.  Here is the hymn that I began and ended Advent with.  The hymn is by Charles Wesley, and the prayer is from the Book of Common Prayer.

Come, thou long-expected Jesus,
Born to set thy people free!
From our fears and sins release us:
Let us find our rest in thee.
Israel's strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth thou art;
Dear desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a king,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone:
By thine all-sufficient merit
Raise us to thy glorious throne.

Almighty God,
give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness,
and put upon us the armour of light,
now in the time of this mortal life,
in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility,
that in the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge both the quick and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal,
through him who liveth and reigned with thee and the Holy Ghost,
now and ever.
Amen.

Amen.