Breath prayers for the rest of us…

…the rest of us…
…who have waited… and waited… far longer than we wanted or was comfortable.
…who have mourned and are still mourning… and may never stop mourning because letting go of the grief feels like a betrayal of all we’ve lost.
…who are struggling… with depression, anxiety, chronic pain and terminal illness… or maybe… just life.
…who feel unseen… unheard… misunderstood… forgotten… by others… by God.
…who have prayed all the prayers and have simply run out of prayers… whose prayers have been reduced to silence.

…if you feel lost, invisible or engulfed by pain… these prayers are for you.

The people who walked in darkness
 have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
Isaiah 9:2 ESV

As we have journeyed through Advent, we have been reminded that this is a season of waiting in darkness. Our first week we lit a candle of Hope. Then, a candle of Peace. Then, the candle of Joy. This past Sunday, we lit the candle of Love, and today we light the final candle to push back the darkness… the Christ candle.

How does Christ come and meet us in the seasons of the dark wintering of our souls?

This is where I tell you Christ comes and fixes all your problems, right? “If you’ll only have enough faith” might be the familiar, banal words you’ve heard. Fortunately, I’m not that person. Having been through the darkness a time or two (or three or four…), you will never hear me offer these platitudes of what I like to call the “Jesus band-aid” (as in, let’s just slap a Jesus band-aid on your gaping wound and see if that helps). I hate when people do that.

See, Jesus never offered band-aids. He offered the kind of hope, peace, joy and love that stooped down and met the eyes of the adulteress woman drug to the temple dressed only in her shame. To the crippled woman bent over in pain, he gave the freedom of a new perspective. To the man with the withered hand, he dared him to take a risk. To Mary and Martha he stepped into their pain and walked with them to the tomb of their dead brother. And then he wept with them. To the lame, he said, “Walk.” To the blind, he said, “See.” To the leper, he said, “Go wash and be clean.” To the 12-year-old girl who died, he spoke: “Talitha cum! Little girl, rise up!”

What is coming upon the world is the Light of the World. It is Christ. That is the comfort of it. The challenge of it is that it has not come yet. Only the hope for it has come, only the longing of it. In the meantime, we are in the dark, and the dark, God knows, is also in us. We watch and wait for a holiness to heal us and hallow us, to liberate us from the dark. Advent is like the hush in a theater just before the curtain rises. ~Frederick Buechner

This is the Christ candle we light today… for a Savior that brings his Light to the darkness… all the broken, shattered, crippled, withered, grieving and dying places within. A Light that asks something different of us than the place we find ourselves stuck. Do we have the courage reach towards the Light?

Breathe this breath prayer with me:
Inhale: Lord who meets me in my darkness
Exhale: please be my Light
Inhale: Jesus, Word Made Flesh
Exhale: I have no strength or power but yours
Inhale: I believe…
Exhale: Lord, help my unbelief

I invite you to spend a few more moments considering Christ’s life, light and love in us through a BEaUtiful liturgy from the Carmelite sisters. You can find that here: Embodying an Incarnational Advent. You can also enjoy a beautiful guided meditation recording from Ruah Space ministries: A Light Has Come Advent Meditation.

May this prayer light the candle of CHRIST within.
Godspeed on the journey, my friend,
Jody

(C) 2025 Jody Thomae

_______________________________________

Jody is an author, spiritual director, worship leader and trauma-informed somatic therapist working at the intersections of spirituality, embodiment, healing, beauty and worship. You can find her books on Amazon and her offerings in living a more fully embodied, whole hearted life at www.fullyembodied.com.