ADVENT

O LORD, my years grow long, my time short:

Let me make haste with my repentance and bow head and heart:

Let me not stay one day from amendment, lest I stay too long:

Let me cease without delay to love my own mischief,

and abandon without a backward look the unfruitful works of darkness.

Lord, grant me new watchfulness to lay hold upon opportunity of good:

Make me at last put on the whole armor of light:

Rank me among them who work for their Lord,

loins girded, lamps burning,

till the night shall pass

and the true light shine.

Let me sing the new song,

following the Lamb whithersoever he goeth,

loving wheresoever he loveth,

doing whatsoever he biddeth,

unto the perfect day

and for ever and ever.

Eric Milner-White (1884-1963)