God of the holy dark,
We know the truth. For too long we've been fed language that communicates Black is dirty and bad, while white is pure and safe. Reveal all the ways this is forming us; anti-Blackness seeping into idiom and allegory, masquerading as poeticism. This Advent, may we reclaim the sacred Black. As the days grow shorter and the dark of night stretches, may we remember that Christ was formed in the holy darkness of a womb — that our origin is not the garden but the dark. May this be a season of deeper encounter with the night. May the darkness guide us into deeper rest, resisting exhaustion and overexposure. May it be a darkness that opens us to the unknown, that we would make peace with uncertainty and marvel at mystery. And may it be a darkness that forms us into people capable of holding the lament of others, that we would never be too quick to turn on the light while someone else is grieving. Hold us in the dark room of Advent. Let us remember what glory grows in the dark. Amen.
— from Black Liturgies by Cole Arthur Riley