Devotional for the First Sunday of Advent

November 30^th – First Sunday of Advent

Advent is a time of hope.  Madeleine L’Engle’s poem, The Risk of Birth (1973), expresses this hope beautifully:

The Risk of Birth

This is no time for a child to be born,
With the earth betrayed by war and hate        
And a comet slashing the sky to warn
That time runs out and the sun burns late.

That was no time for a child to be born,

In a land in the crushing grip of Rome;          
Honour and truth were trampled by scorn –                      
Yet here did the Saviour make his home.

When is the time for love to be born?

The inn is full on the planet earth,                               
And by a comet the sky is torn –                  
Yet Love still takes the risk of birth.

Marcia Prather