One Candle

 A dim light

A faint hope

Come. Oh, come, Emmanuel.

Break forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light!

"There shall a star come out of Jacob
and a scepter shall rise out of Israel,
with might destroying princes and cities.
How bright the star of morning gleams,
so Jesus sheddeth glorious beams
of light and consolation.
Thy word, O Lord,
radiance darting, truth imparting,
gives salvation;
Thine be praise
and adoration!"

    ~ Felix Mendelssohn

"You who are enthroned upon the cherubim,

Shine forth 

before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh!

Stir up your might, and come to save us!"

Psalm 80:1

"There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,

and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,

the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and might,

the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

or decide disputes by what his ears hear;

but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,

and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,

and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,

and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;

and a little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze;

their young shall lie down together;

and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,

and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.

They shall not hurt or destroy

in all my holy mountain;

for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD

as the waters cover the sea.

In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples -- of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious."        ~ Isaiah 11 

One candle is so little light, but enough light for hope. We are never entirely in darkness. Each week of Advent, as we light the candles, the light grows stronger and the Christ Child comes nearer.