Christ, now and always, you are our hope. Through you, forever enfolded in your love, we can know true peace and experience lasting joy. We ask you to bless this wreath, an increasing source of light and a symbol to us of this Advent season: a time for reflection, for saying yes to waiting and for measured expectation. May our Advent observance draw us closer to you as you scatter the darkness from before our path. You who are the hope of the nations, the peace that is greater than our understanding, the joy that can never run out and the love that lays down its life for its friends. Amen.
