Four Collects of Yearning 
in the Season of Advent
November 29-December 24, 2015

How do we long for God-with-Us, this year?  With the exuberant intimacy of the Song of Songs, and the impassioned imaginations of medieval mystics, these prayers invite Emmanuel as a lover.

Week One
Holy Fire that spreads within, 
growing from smolder to flame, 
we long for you to appear in the flesh, where we can touch you 
and know the dense suppleness of your skin, 
this wiry coarseness of your hair, 
the warm moisture of your breath.  
Loving you in this time of waiting has a kind of desperation to it. 
We can barely stand the tremors of expectation.  
Just come already.  
Let your uncontrolled self 
leap to life in our hands so that, 
no matter where we are, 
your Body won’t stop moving us through the world 
with love lingering on our lips.  Amen.  

Week Two
Breath of our breath, 
your absence leaves us gasping for air.  
You are here, somehow, we know, 
but we walk through our days as if. 
The part of us that overlaps with you is missing. 
Here and now, in this place, 
come so close to us that the air between us catches fire, 
drawing us into light and music, 
where there is touch and taste, 
and all of us wanting, all of us filled.  
Encircle us until our limbs grow like wild roots around each other, 
until we know that to hold is to love and to love is to hold.  
Tether us so that we may be set loose in the world with confident grace.  Amen. 

Week Three
Heart of our hearts, 
when the day is darkest and the road is uphill both ways, 
we long to sink into your arms, 
finding the place where our bodies fit, 
and our spirits can rest.  
Whisper to us that the long day is over.  
Peel back the layers of protection that we have built around us in your absence, 
until you find the small, vulnerable places that want to sing for joy that you’ve arrived, 
and weep tears of gratitude for your perseverance.  
Lay us down in the crook of your arm; 
with your patient, tender touch, heal the broken places 
and lift up the heart that was lost, 
so that together we might keep turning this world upside-down with love.  Amen. 

Week Four
Emanuel. 
The sound of your name fills us with yearning. 
The hollow space behind our breastbones aches with wanting you. 
Now, in this moment before you arrive, 
the whole world stretches out its arms, 
waiting for you to laugh, and jump in. 
Hear the prayer that whispers, sings, and shouts from every pore: 
God-with-us, be with us. 
Crash into our present tense, 
so that we might rise to meet you with quivering joy.  Amen.  

Four Collects of Yearning in the Season of Advent were written by Dr. Sharon Fennema, Assistant Professor of Christian Worship, Director of Worship Life, and Director of the Certificate in Sexuality and Religion Program at the Pacific School of Religion.

Copyright 2015 Local Church Ministries, Faith Formation Ministry Team, United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, OH  44115-1100.  Permission granted to reproduce or adapt this material for use in services of worship or church education.  All publishing rights reserved.