Christ our Advent hope,

bare brown trees,

etched dark across a winter sky,

leaves fallen, rustling,

ground hard and cold,

remind us to prepare for your coming;

remind us to prepare for the time

when the soles of your feet will touch the ground,

when you will become one of us

to be one with us.

 

Karen McIlhappa, 1938 – 2002, Scottish minister of the Iona Community

 

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And it shall be said,
“Build up, build up, prepare the way,
    remove every obstruction from my people’s way.”
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
    who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
    and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
    and to revive the heart of the contrite.