Eclectic Amateur

I am firmly of the belief that the “Christmas shopping frenzy” is no less than a Satanic plot to rob us of the proper season of Advent, and to steal the peace and silence that would otherwise prepare us for the coming of Christ.

And, losing Advent, we have lost it in both senses — that of preparing our hearts for the Feast of the Nativity, where we celebrate the first coming of the Infant Christ into the world in history, and of preparing for the Second Coming of the Christ the Lord: this time, not as a helpless infant, but as the the righteous judge of history. And of us. Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.

Come, Lord Jesus!

Come, Lord Jesus! Do I dare
Cry: Lord Jesus, quickly come!
Flash the lightning in the air,
Crash the thunder on my home!
Should I speak this aweful prayer?
Come, Lord Jesus, help me dare.

Come, Lord Jesus! You I call
To come (come soon!) are not the child
Who lay once in the manger stall,
Are not the infant meek and mild.
You come in judgement on our all:
Help me to know you, whom I call.

Come, Lord Jesus! Come this night
With your purging and your power,
For the earth is dark with blight
And in sin we run and cower
Before the splendid, raging sight
Of the breaking of the night.

Come, my Lord! Our darkness end!
Break the bonds of time and space.
All the powers of evil rend
By the radiance of your face.
The laughing stars with joy attend:
Come Lord Jesus! Be my end!

— Madeleine L’Engle, The Weather of the Heart