Collect for the Fourth Sunday in Advent

The Collect for the Fourth Sunday in Advent is the proper collect appointed in the Book of Common Prayer for the final Sunday before Christmas. It petitions God to raise up his power, come among his people, and deliver them from the hindrance of sin by grace and mercy. In Anglicanism, the collect belongs to the classical Advent pattern of expectation, repentance, and hope in the coming of Jesus Christ. Its imagery of the Christian life as a race connects the season's anticipation of Christ's Nativity with the need for present spiritual help.

Prayer Book setting

In the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, the collect is appointed for the Fourth Sunday in Advent among the seasonal propers used at Holy Communion and in the daily offices. It follows the earlier Advent collects, which emphasize the coming of Christ, the authority of Scripture, and the ministry of preparation associated with John the Baptist. The fourth collect brings these themes into a direct plea for divine intervention: the Church is not merely waiting for Christ but asking him to come with saving power.

The prayer's place immediately before Christmas gives it a distinctive urgency. Advent in the Prayer Book is not only a season of quiet preparation for the annual celebration of the Nativity. It also looks toward Christ's coming in judgment and toward his continuing presence with the Church. The collect therefore resists reducing Advent to historical remembrance. Its verbs are present and active: God is asked to come, succour, help, and deliver.

As with other Prayer Book collects, the form is concise. It begins with an address to God, states the human condition as hindered by sin, asks for divine aid, and concludes through Christ. This structure is typical of Anglican common prayer, where doctrine is often carried by repeated liturgical language rather than by extended explanation.

Language and theology

The collect is notable for its phrase that human beings are "sore let and hindered" in running the race set before them. In older English, "let" can mean impeded or obstructed. The phrase therefore does not suggest permission, but the painful reality that sin slows, entangles, and frustrates the faithful. The image recalls New Testament language about running with perseverance, while the collect applies that image to the whole praying Church rather than to isolated individuals.

The prayer does not present sin only as outward wrongdoing. It describes sin and wickedness as forces that hinder the Christian life itself. This gives the collect a strongly Augustinian tone, though it remains in the plain language of public worship. Human beings need more than instruction or encouragement; they need grace and mercy to help and deliver them.

The final clause grounds that deliverance in the work of Christ. The reference to the satisfaction of the Son reflects the Prayer Book's concern to confess salvation through Christ's saving work without turning the collect into a doctrinal treatise. The prayer is penitential, but not despairing. It asks for help precisely because God's mercy is bountiful and because Christ is the mediator through whom the Church prays.

Liturgical use

In parishes using the traditional Prayer Book calendar, the collect is heard on the Fourth Sunday in Advent at Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Holy Communion according to local custom and rubrical use. Where the First Sunday in Advent collect is repeated through the season, the fourth collect may stand alongside it as part of the cumulative Advent emphasis of the Prayer Book.

Modern Anglican provinces have sometimes revised Advent collects or provided alternative texts, but the older collect remains familiar in traditional-language worship and in communities shaped by the 1662 book and its descendants. Its language is sometimes retained because it gives Advent a note of spiritual seriousness immediately before Christmas. The collect teaches that preparation for the Incarnation includes repentance, dependence on grace, and readiness to receive the Lord who comes to save.

The collect also has devotional use beyond the public liturgy. Its petition can be prayed by individuals, schools, and households as Christmas approaches, especially where the Daily Office is used as a rule of prayer. In that setting it serves as a compact summary of Advent spirituality: the faithful are hindered, Christ is near, and divine mercy is sought for the race of obedience.