Songbirds all around the world know a thing or two about singing into the dark. In the early hours of the morning, before the sun appears over the horizon, songbirds from robins and wrens to larks and nightingales begin a symphony that scientists call the “dawn chorus.” Humble and low, dawn choruses usually begin quietly in the dark with only a few voices. Soon the early birds are joined by others, and then others, until their song greets the morning light. Advent is the Church’s dawn chorus. The season starts in the silence, in the shadows, and looks to the Light.