May you who feel despair,
Find joy in sorrow’s midst.
May you find warmth in the darkness,
And may your spirit hold light.

Joy is not all merriment and cheer,
But it is heavy, too. ….

There’s war. The holy land rages with everything but holiness. Political interests are of more interest than life. People are dead, dying, sick, and afraid. Bodies are buried in rubble, covered in dust. People sit in their living rooms, far away, and argue in comment sections about which lives matter most, as if this is a philosophical question and not one of human proportions.

Where is peace?

This is In The Bleak, an advent practice for those in middling spaces.