Comfort, Comfort
About the Album and its roots
Advent is a time of watching, waiting, and anticipating the coming of Christ. The Advent lectionary resounds with the deep longing cries of the Hebrew prophets, John the Baptist's preaching that the Lord is near, and the first and second coming of Christ. We join Israel as they waited for the coming of the messiah and we also wait and watch with great hope for Christ’s return. Advent has always felt a bit like a long breath in the cold winter air between promise and fulfillment. It’s the time when we learn again how to hope in the dark, and to listen for the voice that cries in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord.”
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For our family, Advent 2024 carried that wilderness in a very real way. After a long year of radiation, chemotherapy, and major surgery on Jason’s primary tumor — and a brief window of hope that cancer might be a word behind us — we learned that a new tumor had developed in his liver. The news came with all the dread and frailty such words bear. While we were stringing lights and trimming trees with our four boys, I was also learning the hard lesson of what it means to not give way to fear, though worry lingers heavy in the air.
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That line rattled around in my head for a week or so and eventually became the bridge to Comfort, Comfort. It wasn’t written as a declaration of brave defiance, but as a trembling trust that even here, in uncertainty, Christ is near — and He will accomplish His purposes.
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Isaiah’s words began rattling around in my head “Comfort, comfort ye my people, says your God”…There is still a tender word to come. Here amidst the deep valley, the God of the Highest Heaven, gave me songs in the night (Job 35:10), for he indeed has gone to far greater depths.
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I Wait was written in the hospital waiting room during Advent of 2023, shortly after Jason’s diagnosis. The words came quietly, from the breathless waiting outside the radiation room, and the desperate longing to see the Lord’s hand in the dark:
I wait for the Lord, in the watches of the night, his eye is on me.
I wait for the Lord, in the longing, in the dark his light is still seen.
So then come, Lord Jesus, healing Shepherd
Far as the curse is found, oh make us whole.
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That song became the sound of that season — a watchman’s prayer, a heartbeat of faith that refuses to despair. It reminded me that waiting is not passive; it is the posture of those who trust that God is at work for our highest good, even when the outcome is hidden.
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That promise met me in hospital corridors and in the many sleepless hours before dawn. I began to understand that the comfort of God is not the absence of sorrow, but His presence within it — the Shepherd who gathers His lambs close to His heart, who walks with His people through the valley of the shadow.
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This second year of chemotherapy has perhaps been darker than the first, but the Lord’s tender care has been ever nearer. We will continue treatment through this Advent, in hope that the dosage may be lessened in the new year.
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Through it all, our church family has embodied that comfort. They have prayed with us, sung with us, held our boys, and reminded us again and again that the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. And so, I am thankful more than ever that God has ordained the church to be the means through which we walk out a life of faith. And I am thankful that the church ordained this season of Advent- where we wait, watch, prepare, and repent. Advent reminds us that the Light does not stand apart from the darkness; for the Light of the World has broken through and pierced it. Christ has come into the world once, and He will come again — to judge, to heal, and to make all things new. Our waiting is not empty; it is full of His promises and the sure hope that the story ends in glory.
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Comfort, Comfort was written from that place — vigil songs for a waiting people. For even here, where worry lingers heavy in the air, we will not give way to fear. And soon, we will sing together, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come!”
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These vigil songs form a small Advent album called “Comfort, Comfort” which are available now on Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, Bandcamp, Amazon Music, and other major streaming platforms.