The Place Where Advent Starts

Sara Kay and David Weiss are working together to record new hymns that celebrate God's love, justice, and welcome. The album is almost done and will be out soon. Here is a taste of one of the songs, "The Place Where Advent Starts":

The Place Where Advent Starts

As the darkness stretches over / all the daylight, all our lives

In the depths of expectation / where the heart sees, You reside.

Dare we beckon to the hunger / fill our frame and feed our soul

In this dim-lit struggling world / that our feasting be made full.

As we wait with restless longing / for your kin-dom fully come

Rise the cries of warring nations / beats the pulse of terror’s drum.

“Comfort now, my people, comfort,” / spoke the prophet long ago.

“Still my peace comes to this world / midst its bombs, its spears and bows.”

As the earth cries out in anguish / less for birth than bitter toil;

As the poor, their fortunes falter / as the ill, their spirits spoil.

Steel our vision, so that we see / full the depth of broken hearts;

For in this place—hungry, hopeless / yes, in this place, advent starts.

Hasten now, come quickly to us / ’fore our spirits faint with fear.

Be the light in deepest darkness / be the hope that draws us near.

In your advent, may we waken / live the life you call us to:

Every deed a Christmas manger / ready now to welcome you.

Text: David R. Weiss, b. 1959 (text, © 2011 David R. Weiss)

Tune: Marty Haugen, b. 1950, JOYOUS LIGHT, (Joyous Light of Heavenly Glory – © GIA Publication)

Alternate Tune: BEACH SPRING (The Sacred Harp, Philadelphia, Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service, Lutheran Book of Worship 423 – public domain)

Permission is given to photocopy The Place Where Advent Starts for use in worship.