Advent 1: The Problem with Darkness and Light

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of` darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

This Collect (or Gathering Prayer) for the First Sunday of Advent is familiar and loved. It dates back to the original 1549 Book of Common Prayer, so perhaps it was written by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer himself. He clearly used the epistle appointed for Advent 1 in that Prayer Book as his inspiration, the same epistle for Year A, Advent 1 that we heard this morning: Romans 13:11-14.

The images are contrasting and striking: “darkness and light,” “humility and majesty,” “mortality and immortality.” All good Advent images.

I am particularly leery, however, of the images of “darkness and light,” despite the fact that they are predominant images in the Bible, in both Testaments. I simply can’t sing “in him [God] there is no darkness at all in the popular hymn, “I want to walk as a child of the light.” This problem is about two things for me. The first is race. There is darkness of people and it is good. It is problematic for “darkness” to be an image only for evil. The second is the problem of whether or not there is any “darkness” in God in terms not so much of badness but of a more general “dark side of life. Perhaps that is my newly uncovered bipolar reality talking. I want to say more about this piece, much more, but not know.

There are other biblical images that could work in this Collect and go perfectly well with Advent. Here’s my proposed revision (although I’ll continue to use the authorized version in public liturgy):

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of` despair, and put on the garment of hope, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to life everlasting; through the One who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Happy Advent One!