Advent prayers are the specific prayers of the four weeks before Christmas, a season with its own theological weight distinct from Christmas Day itself. The word Advent comes from the Latin adventus, meaning arrival or coming, and the season is the church’s practice of waiting for that arrival. It is a countercultural season in modern life. While the wider culture treats December as a countdown to gift-giving, Advent asks its practitioners to slow down, wait, prepare, and pay attention. Its four weeks each carry a traditional theme, Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love, and its central practices are the Advent wreath, daily reflection, and specific prayers of anticipation.
Below: 42 Advent prayers, organized by the four weeks of Advent, the Advent wreath candle-lighting moments, the practice of waiting well, Christmas Eve, a difficult Advent, and short daily prayers for the whole season.
If you came here because Advent starts soon and you want prayers to guide you through the four weeks, start here:
“A voice of one calling: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.'”
Isaiah 40:3, NIV
Isaiah’s line is one of the oldest anchors of the Advent season. It names the specific work of the four weeks: prepare the way. Not build the arrival. Not force the coming. Prepare. Advent is a season of preparation for what God is going to do, not what we are going to produce. Worth reading in the same context is Revelation 22:20, the second-to-last verse in the whole Bible: “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” Advent prayer takes both realities at once, the ancient coming at Bethlehem two thousand years ago, and the promised coming yet to come. Every prayer below is written on that dual foundation.
This guide covers 42 Advent prayers, organized by the traditional structure of the season. For the Prayers pillar that houses this content, see our Prayers pillar. For related seasonal content, see our Christmas blessings and our Thanksgiving blessings. For scripture on the specific themes of Advent, see our bible verses for hope. They’re meant to be used.
An honest note before we begin. Advent can be a hard season for many people. December carries specific weight, grief that becomes sharper when the culture is celebrating, financial pressure that has become brutal, loneliness that a supposedly joyful season only makes more visible, and the mental health difficulty that clinicians know spikes in the final weeks of the year. The section titled Prayers for a Difficult Advent is written specifically for these situations. Advent as the church has practiced it for centuries has always held space for both waiting and lament. You do not have to feel merry to be honestly in Advent.
What Advent Actually Is
For readers new to Advent, a brief introduction. Advent is the four-week season leading up to Christmas Day, observed by most Christian traditions worldwide. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, which in the northern hemisphere generally falls in late November or early December, and it ends at sundown on Christmas Eve. It marks the beginning of the church’s liturgical year.
The season has two spiritual movements happening at once. It looks back to remember the first coming of Christ, the specific baby born in Bethlehem two thousand years ago. And it looks forward to anticipate his promised second coming at the end of time. This dual orientation is what gives Advent its specific texture, a season of both memory and expectation, of both preparation for Christmas Day and preparation for the fuller arrival that the church still waits for.
The four weeks each carry a traditional theme. Week one is Hope, sometimes called the Prophets Candle in the Advent wreath tradition. Week two is Peace, sometimes called the Bethlehem Candle. Week three is Joy, marked by Gaudete Sunday and a pink candle rather than the usual purple, from the Latin word for “rejoice.” Week four is Love, sometimes called the Angels Candle. On Christmas Eve, a fifth central white candle, the Christ Candle, is lit. This is the shape of the Advent wreath, and it is the shape the prayers below follow.
Worth knowing: Advent has been observed as a distinct church season since at least the 4th century, and the Advent wreath tradition as most Christians know it today comes from Johann Hinrich Wichern, a German Lutheran pastor who created it in 1839 to help the children in his orphanage count the days until Christmas. Christian traditions have prayed through some form of Advent for over sixteen hundred years, and its practices continue to shape millions of Christian homes each December.
Week One Prayers: Hope
Four prayers for the first week of Advent, whose theme is Hope. The prophets, especially Isaiah, spent centuries looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, and the first week of Advent takes their long waiting as its shape. Hope in this specific liturgical sense is not optimism about a good outcome. It is the sustained expectation that God will do what he has promised, even when there is no visible evidence yet.
1. A prayer for the beginning of Advent
Lord, at the beginning of these four weeks, meet us. Prepare in us whatever needs preparing before Christmas comes. Slow us down enough to notice what you are already doing. Let this Advent do its actual work in us, not just be a busy countdown to a day. Amen.
2. A prayer for hope in the season of waiting
Father, the prophets waited seven hundred years for the coming you promised, and it came. Sustain in me the hope that keeps waiting even when the answer takes longer than I would choose. Teach me the specific hope that is not the same as optimism, the hope that is grounded in your character rather than in my circumstances. Amen.
3. A prayer with Isaiah
Lord, in the wilderness of my own life, prepare the way. Make straight the path in me. Level the specific mountains of pride, ambition, and distraction. Fill the specific valleys of doubt, weariness, and grief. Do the work in me that is the whole point of Advent. Amen. (After Isaiah 40:3-5)
4. A prayer for the first Sunday of Advent
Gracious God, on this first Sunday of Advent, we light the first candle and name the specific work of the week ahead: to hope. To lift our eyes to the horizon of your coming. To trust that what you have promised, you will do. Give us the specific hope that Advent asks of us. Amen.
Week Two Prayers: Peace
Four prayers for the second week of Advent, whose theme is Peace. This week points toward Bethlehem, the small town where the Prince of Peace would be born. The Hebrew word for peace, shalom, is not simply the absence of conflict; it is the wholeness of every part of life set right. The second week of Advent prays for that fuller peace, in our own lives and in the world.
5. A prayer for the Prince of Peace
Lord, we call you Prince of Peace as Isaiah did seven hundred years before you came. Bring your peace to the specific places in my life that are not at peace. The relationship that is fractured. The decision that is not yet clear. The interior places where anxiety has settled in. Let the peace of your coming reach them. Amen. (After Isaiah 9:6)
6. A prayer for peace in the world
Father, in this Advent, we pray for peace in the world. The specific wars we have grown numb to. The specific injustices that have gone on longer than they should. The specific human beings suffering today whose names we will never know. Meet them there. Do the work of peace that only you can do. Amen.
7. A prayer for peace at home
Gracious God, before Christmas comes, do the specific work of peace in our home. Guard the conversations that could go wrong. Soften the specific tensions between family members that we know are there. Bring your peace not just to the world in some distant abstract, but to this specific address, this specific family. Amen.
8. A prayer for the second Sunday of Advent
Lord, on this second Sunday of Advent, we light the second candle and name the peace that is coming. The peace that is not what the world means when it says peace. The peace of Christ, which passes understanding and guards our hearts. Let it settle in us this week. Amen.
Week Three Prayers: Joy
Four prayers for the third week of Advent, whose theme is Joy. This is Gaudete Sunday, named for the Latin word for “rejoice,” and the traditional Advent wreath uses a pink candle rather than purple to mark the shift. The third week is the specific turn in Advent from waiting toward arrival. The joy is not manufactured; it is the honest response to the closeness of the coming.
9. A prayer with the Magnificat
Lord, my soul magnifies you, my spirit rejoices in you. You have looked with favor on the lowly. You have done great things and holy is your name. Let this joy that Mary sang before Christ’s birth be the joy that carries me through this week of Advent. Amen. (After Luke 1:46-49)
10. A prayer for honest joy
Father, teach me the specific joy that Advent asks of me. Not performed joy. Not comparative joy. The honest quiet joy of anticipating what is coming. Meet me in it. Let it become part of how I move through this week. Amen.
11. A prayer for joy when joy feels far away
Gracious God, this week’s theme is joy, and joy feels far away right now. Meet me here in the honest gap. Do not require me to produce joy I cannot produce. Let the coming of Christ become, over time, its own quiet joy in me, even when the surface feelings do not cooperate. Amen.
12. A prayer for the third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete)
Lord, on this Gaudete Sunday, we light the pink candle and rejoice, because the coming is now close. Half of Advent is behind us. Half is still ahead. Meet us in the specific joy of the turn. Amen.
Week Four Prayers: Love
Four prayers for the fourth week of Advent, whose theme is Love. This week is the final stretch before Christmas Day, and its theme points toward the deepest reason for the incarnation itself. As John 3:16 puts it, God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. The fourth week of Advent prays into that specific love.
13. A prayer for the love that came at Bethlehem
Father, you so loved the world that you gave your only Son. In this final week of Advent, let this astonishing love be the thing I actually notice. Not one more year of familiar Christmas story, but the specific weight of what love had to do to come to us. Amen.
14. A prayer for love that reaches beyond the family
Lord, in this final week before Christmas, expand my love. Beyond the people I already love. Beyond the family I am gathering with. Toward the specific strangers and difficult people and lonely neighbors whose names you know. Let love shape my Christmas more than sentiment does. Amen.
15. A prayer for love that is honest
Gracious God, teach me the specific love that Christmas actually asks of me. Not sentimental love. Not the love that only shows up when it is easy. The costly love that came to Bethlehem, that made itself small enough to be received, that laid itself down. Let some small echo of that love be in me this week. Amen.
16. A prayer for the fourth Sunday of Advent
Lord, on this fourth Sunday of Advent, we light the last purple candle and name the love that is almost here. Christmas is now days away. Prepare our hearts for the arrival. Let us not miss what is coming. Amen.
Advent Wreath Candle-Lighting Prayers
Five prayers for the specific moment of lighting the Advent wreath candles, one for each of the four Sundays of Advent and one for the central Christ Candle on Christmas Eve. These are meant to be prayed by the family at the table before the meal, or by the person leading a small gathering, as each new candle is lit.
17. Lighting the first candle (Hope)
Gracious God, we light this first candle of Advent, the candle of Hope. As the prophets waited centuries for the coming of your Son, teach us to wait with hope. Prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ. Amen.
18. Lighting the second candle (Peace)
Lord Jesus, Prince of Peace, we light this second candle of Advent, the candle of Peace. Come into the specific places in us and in the world that are not at peace. Prepare us for your arrival with the peace only you can give. Amen.
19. Lighting the third candle (Joy)
Father, we light this third candle of Advent, the candle of Joy. The wait is halfway done. The coming is close. Let this joy that Mary sang, that the shepherds heard about, that the church has celebrated for two thousand years, become our joy today. Amen.
20. Lighting the fourth candle (Love)
Gracious God, we light this fourth candle of Advent, the candle of Love. Christmas is now days away. Let the love that brought Christ from heaven to a manger prepare our hearts this final week for the arrival that is coming. Amen.
21. Lighting the Christ Candle (Christmas Eve)
Lord Jesus, on this Christmas Eve, we light the central Christ Candle. The waiting is over. The coming has come. The Word has become flesh and dwelt among us. Bless this home and this family, and let the light of Christ shine in us tonight and in every day to come. Amen.
Prayers for Waiting Well
Five prayers for the specific spiritual work that Advent asks of us, which is waiting. Modern life is not shaped for waiting. Advent, at its deepest, is a season of learning to wait, and these prayers meet that specific work. For deeper prayer on stuck situations and long waiting, see our prayer points for breakthrough.
22. A prayer for the practice of waiting
Lord, I am not naturally good at waiting. You made this specific season for people like me, who need practice. Teach me, over these four weeks, the honest work of waiting. Not distracted waiting. Not impatient waiting. The waiting that is itself a form of prayer. Amen.
23. A prayer for slowing down in December
Father, the culture around me is speeding up while Advent asks me to slow down. Give me the courage to actually slow down. To not fill every hour with obligations. To leave real space for you to do what you want to do in these four weeks. Amen.
24. A prayer for the long waiting I am already in
Gracious God, I am also in a longer waiting that Advent is not going to resolve by Christmas Day. You know the specific thing I have been waiting for. Meet me here. Let this season of practicing waiting well shape how I wait for the larger things in my life. Amen.
25. A prayer for staying present
Lord, keep me present during Advent. Not rushed ahead to Christmas Day. Not stuck in December’s to-do list. Actually here, in the specific week I am currently in, doing the specific waiting that this week asks of me. Amen.
26. A prayer for the second coming
Father, Advent points both directions. Back to Bethlehem. Forward to the fuller coming still ahead. Teach me to hold both. Let this season shape my waiting not just for December 25 but for the day when Christ will come again and set right what is not yet right. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen. (After Revelation 22:20)
Christmas Eve Prayers
Three prayers for the specific night that closes Advent and opens Christmas. The Christmas Eve prayer is different in character from either the four-week Advent prayer or the Christmas Day blessing. It marks the transition, the moment when the waiting is finally almost over. For the specific blessings of Christmas Day itself, see our Christmas blessings.
27. A prayer on Christmas Eve night
Lord, on this Christmas Eve, the four weeks of Advent are almost complete. The waiting is almost done. Prepare our hearts for the arrival. Let the story of Bethlehem, which we know so well we have almost stopped hearing it, come alive to us again tonight. Amen.
28. A prayer after a Christmas Eve service
Father, we have just sung the carols and lit the candles and heard the story again. Let the truth of what we just celebrated in the sanctuary follow us home tonight. Let it be with us as we sleep, and be here when we wake to Christmas morning. Amen.
29. A prayer at the end of Advent
Gracious God, thank you for the four weeks of Advent that are now ending. For the specific work you did in us in the waiting. For the times we noticed you moving and the times we did not but you were moving anyway. Meet us at the threshold of Christmas with grateful hearts. Amen.
Prayers for a Difficult Advent
Five prayers for the honest reality that Advent, like Christmas, is not the same for everyone. Grief that becomes sharper in December. Loneliness that a season of celebration makes more visible. Financial pressure that has become brutal. Depression that spikes with the shortening days. Doubt that Advent’s language of hope is not currently reaching. These prayers meet the difficulty honestly. For deeper prayer on grief, see our prayers for grief.
30. A prayer for Advent in grief
Lord, this Advent is heavy with grief. You know the specific weight I am carrying. First Advent without them. The traditions that were ours together, now mine alone. Meet me in the specific ache. Do not require me to feel Advent joy I cannot yet feel. Sit with me in the honest darkness that this season historically has always held space for. Amen.
31. A prayer for Advent in loneliness
Father, this Advent I am more alone than I want to be. The whole culture seems to be gathering. I am not. Meet me in the specific quiet. Remind me that Advent has always been, in part, a season of the lonely watchmen keeping vigil through long nights, waiting for morning. Let me be part of that older company tonight. Amen.
32. A prayer for Advent with financial pressure
Gracious God, this Advent is weighted with financial pressure. You know the specific numbers. The gifts we cannot afford. The gap between what my family will expect and what I can provide. Meet me in the anxiety. Remind me that Advent, at its deepest, has never been about what fits under the tree. Give me the courage to celebrate small and honest this year. Amen.
33. A prayer for Advent with depression
Lord, this Advent depression is heavy. The shorter days press on me. The joy the season assumes is not reaching me. Meet me in the honest place I am in. Sustain the treatment that is helping. Send the specific support I need. Remind me that Advent has always been a season of naming the darkness before the light comes, and that I am not failing at Advent by being where I actually am. Amen.
34. A prayer for Advent when I doubt
Father, this Advent I am not sure what I believe anymore. The old language of hope and coming and promise is not landing the way it used to. Meet me here. Do not require me to fake certainty I do not have. Let the honest waiting of Advent be itself a form of faith, even in a year when confident faith is beyond me. Come, Lord Jesus, even to this doubt. Amen.
Short Daily Advent Prayers
Eight short prayers for daily use throughout the four weeks of Advent. Each is short enough to memorize and pray daily as a small anchor for the season. Choose one and stay with it, or rotate through them across the twenty-eight days.
- Lord, prepare in me today what needs preparing before Christmas comes. Amen.
- Come, Lord Jesus. Come to the specific place in me that most needs you today. Amen.
- Father, teach me to wait well through this hour, this day, this Advent. Amen.
- Emmanuel, God with us, be with me in the ordinary work of today. Amen.
- Lord, in the wilderness of this December, prepare the way. Amen.
- Prince of Peace, meet me in whatever is not at peace in me today. Amen.
- Father, slow me down today enough to notice what you are already doing. Amen.
- Lord Jesus, whose birth we wait for, be born again in me today. Amen.
How to Actually Use These Prayers
Three practical approaches to letting these Advent prayers do their work over the four weeks.
Use the weekly prayers with an Advent wreath. If you have a wreath, light the appropriate candle each Sunday and pray the wreath-lighting prayer from that section (numbers 17-21), then use the four weekly prayers throughout the week that follows. Even a simple household wreath, four candles in a circle, can anchor the practice. If you do not have a wreath, light any candle at the same time each day of the week and pray the section’s prayers.
Anchor the season with one short daily prayer. Choose one prayer from the short daily prayers section (numbers 35-42) and pray it every morning for the whole four weeks. The repetition matters. What you pray at the beginning of every Advent day shapes how you inhabit the season. Pray it in the car, at your desk before the first email, on the walk with the dog. It will become part of the fabric of the season without your having to remember to think about it.
Match the section to the specific situation you are in. If you are honestly in a difficult Advent, spend more time in the difficult Advent section than in the weekly themed sections. If you are in a busy Advent, camp in the waiting well section. Advent prayer works when it meets you where you actually are, not where the liturgical calendar assumes you must be.
For companion Christmas content, see our Christmas blessings for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. For the wider prayer tradition, see our how to pray for beginners.
An Honest Note on Advent
Advent, in the actual liturgical tradition of the church, is countercultural. The wider culture treats December as a countdown to gift-giving, decorated with holiday music and shopping and social obligation. Advent asks something opposite: slow down, wait, prepare, pay attention to what God is doing rather than what we are producing. Historically, Advent was even a penitential season, forty days of preparation like Lent, with fasting and quiet. That is not the version of Advent most Christians observe today, and that is not what this guide asks. But the underlying orientation of Advent, that it is about God’s coming rather than our doing, is worth holding onto even in a busy modern December.
Advent also holds space for the specific darkness of the world in a way many modern celebrations of Christmas do not. The prophets who anchor the first week of Advent spent centuries lamenting the state of Israel before the coming they promised finally came. The shortening days of the northern hemisphere Advent, the specific darkness at 5 PM in December, is part of the physical shape of the season. Advent is not embarrassed by darkness; it is the season that names darkness as the specific context for the coming light. This is why Advent has always been able to hold both hope and lament at the same table, and why the difficult Advent prayers in the section above are not an addition to Advent but part of what Advent actually is.
Two thousand years of Christians have prayed through some form of Advent, and the season has carried the church through wars, plagues, exile, ordinary difficulty, and ordinary joy. The prayers above are one small contribution to that continuing tradition. Use them slowly. Return to them across the four weeks. Let the coming of Christ, both the coming we remember and the coming we still wait for, be the specific work of your December. That is what Advent has always been about, and it is what it can still be about now.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Advent?
Advent is the four-week Christian season leading up to Christmas Day, observed by most Christian traditions worldwide. The word comes from the Latin adventus, meaning arrival or coming. Advent has two spiritual movements at once: it looks back to remember the first coming of Christ at Bethlehem two thousand years ago, and it looks forward to anticipate the promised second coming at the end of time. The season begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends at sundown on Christmas Eve, and it marks the beginning of the church’s liturgical year.
When does Advent 2026 start?
Advent 2026 begins on Sunday, November 29, 2026, the first Sunday of Advent, and ends at sundown on Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24, 2026. Because Advent always begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, its start date shifts slightly each year, typically falling between late November and early December. The four Sundays of Advent 2026 are November 29, December 6, December 13 (Gaudete Sunday), and December 20.
What are the four themes of Advent?
The four weeks of Advent each carry a traditional theme. Week one is Hope, sometimes called the Prophets Candle in the Advent wreath tradition. Week two is Peace, sometimes called the Bethlehem Candle. Week three is Joy, marked by Gaudete Sunday and a pink candle rather than purple. Week four is Love, sometimes called the Angels Candle. On Christmas Eve, a central white Christ Candle is lit. These themes have shaped Christian Advent observance for centuries and are the framework this guide follows.
What is an Advent wreath?
An Advent wreath is a circular arrangement of evergreen with four candles around the outside and often a fifth white candle in the center. The four outer candles, three purple and one pink (the pink one lit on Gaudete Sunday), correspond to the four Sundays of Advent, and one is lit each week. The central white Christ Candle is lit on Christmas Eve. The Advent wreath tradition as most Christians know it today comes from Johann Hinrich Wichern, a German Lutheran pastor who created it in 1839 to help the children in his orphanage count the days until Christmas.
How do you pray during Advent?
Pray during Advent by anchoring the four weeks with the traditional themes, Hope, Peace, Joy, Love, and by making space for quiet daily prayer that is different from the pace of the culture around you. Many families use an Advent wreath at the dinner table, lighting the appropriate candle each Sunday and praying together. Others use a short daily prayer throughout the season, keeping it small and repeating it daily. Some observe Advent with daily scripture reading through the season, using an Advent devotional or the traditional Bible readings assigned to each day. Advent prayer works when it fits the specific shape of your household and the actual time you have.
What is the difference between Advent and Christmas?
Advent is the four-week season of preparation and waiting before Christmas Day. Christmas is the twelve-day season that begins on Christmas Day (December 25) and ends on Epiphany (January 6). This distinction is important in the historical liturgical calendar but has become blurred in modern culture, where “the Christmas season” is often used to describe the entire period from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day, and where Christmas decorations often come down on December 26 rather than being kept up through Epiphany. Traditional Christian observance treats Advent as its own season with its own texture, distinct from and preparing for the Christmas celebration that follows.
Is Advent Catholic or Protestant?
Advent is observed across Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Orthodox, and many Protestant traditions, including Methodist, Presbyterian, and Reformed churches. It is one of the shared seasons of the historic Christian calendar, older than the Protestant Reformation and preserved through it. Some Protestant traditions observe Advent more formally with the wreath, weekly themes, and daily devotions, while others observe it more lightly. Evangelical and non-denominational Protestants may not always follow a formal Advent calendar, but many still incorporate elements of the season, particularly the Advent wreath, into their December practices.
What Bible verses are associated with Advent?
The scripture readings that anchor Advent come from both the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament birth narratives. Key verses include Isaiah 40:3 (“Prepare the way for the Lord”), Isaiah 9:6 (“For to us a child is born”), Micah 5:2 (the Bethlehem prophecy), Luke 1:26-38 (the Annunciation), Luke 1:46-55 (Mary’s Magnificat), Luke 1:68-79 (Zechariah’s Benedictus), Matthew 24:42 (“Keep watch”), and Revelation 22:20 (“Come, Lord Jesus”). Together these form the classical scripture landscape of the four Advent weeks. For the wider collection of scripture on hope, see our bible verses for hope.
Advent prayer is the church’s practice of waiting well through the four weeks before Christmas. Its themes are ancient: Hope, Peace, Joy, Love. Its posture is countercultural: slow, patient, watchful, willing to hold the honest darkness of December alongside the coming light. Its scripture is deep: the prophets, the Magnificat, the Bethlehem prophecies, the two-thousand-year-old prayer come, Lord Jesus. Use the prayers in this guide slowly, one small anchor at a time, over the four weeks. Let the coming of Christ, both the coming we remember and the coming we still wait for, be the specific shape of your December. That is what Advent has always been about.
For more, explore our Prayers pillar, our Christmas blessings, our bible verses for hope, and our how to pray for beginners.
