Grant Us Light in This Darkness

This Sunday we will light our fourth candle. We will light our candles in the midst of deep darkness, just three days before the winter solstice.

The days are short. The nights are long. It is cold. On Saturday, the solstice, it will go down near 5 degrees at night, and we will have our usual worry that the sink pipes in our half-bathroom will freeze.

We will also worry about whether our kids are going to be okay in this turbulent world. We will worry about whether there will still be access to vaccines in a few years. We will worry about whether tariffs and cryptocurrency will cause upheavals in the availability of food and goods and housing. We will worry about our parents and their care. We will worry about gun violence and environmental protections and the regulation of cancer-causing chemicals. We will worry about our friends who are suffering and sick.

But I will light candles.

I will stand before all of this and still believe in love. O come, O come, Emmanuel! Come and join us who mourn here! Come and grant us light in this darkness, and peace in this churning world, and comfort for our hearts.