Based on the book Calling All Angels by Erin Wathen but can be used independent of the book.
Note: Each week has a person or people volunteer to light the candle.
Note: Each pillar above, when turned has the name of the week.
Lighting of the Advent Wreath – Advent One
Introduce yourself
Share a time when God has offered you HOPE in your life.
One: Today we sing the song of Zechariah, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for God has looked favorably on God’s people and redeemed them. God has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of David. . .God has shown the mercy God promised our ancestors and remembered the holy covenant.”
Let us, as Zechariah, hold to HOPE this day.
Let us bask in the words, “Do not be afraid!”
Let us have the courage to wonder what we might do if we were not afraid.
Moment of silence
Let us today light the candle of HOPE in our advent wreath and in our hearts.
Light the Hope candle
Let us sing together the 1st verse of our Advent song.
Recommended Hymn: Advent Song (Light the Advent Candle) The Faith We Sing #2090 vs 1
Lighting of the Advent Wreath – Advent 2
Introduction of the people / person lighting the wreath
Share a time when you felt the PEACE of God.
One: Today we sing the song of Mary, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior . . .The mighty One has done great things . . .and holy is his name. . .He has scattered the proud . . ., and brought down the powerful from their thrones. [He] has lifted up the lowly and has filled the hungry with good things.”
Let us, as Mary did, imagine a world where all have as they need and where PEACE abides.
Let us bask in the words, “Do not be afraid!”
Let us have the audacity to join God in making peace real in the world.
Let us today light the candle of PEACE in our advent wreath and in our hearts.
Recommended Hymn: Advent Song (Light the Advent Candle) The Faith We Sing #2090 vs 1 & 2
Lighting of the Advent Wreath – Advent 3
Introduction of the people lighting the wreath.
Share a time when you have felt extraordinary JOY.
One: Today we walk with Joseph into the unknown.
We walk from clarity into mystery,
from loneliness to JOY.
“Look, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.”
Let us prepare to receive the JOY.
Let us bask in the words, “Do not be afraid!’
Let us welcome mystery into our own lives and be ready to live into God’s possibilities.
Moment of Silence
Let us today light the candle of JOY in our advent wreath and in our hearts.
Light the candle
Recommended Hymn: Advent Song (Light the Advent Candle) The Faith We Sing #2090 vs 1, 2, & 3
Lighting of the Advent Wreath – Advent 4
Introduction of person / people lighting the wreath.
Share a time when you have felt extraordinary LOVE.
One: Today we encounter angels with shepherds in their fields.
We are met with amazement and awe.
The angels once again declare, “Do not be afraid!”
They say they are bringing good news of great joy for all people.
Because a child is born,
LOVE itself is taking on form and presence in this world.
And so they rushed to the stable where they encountered LOVE incarnate.
So let us prepare to LOVE and BE LOVED.
Let us bask in the words, “Do not be afraid!’
Let us prepare for our own encounters with God whenever and wherever they come.
Moment of Silence
Let us today light the candle of LOVE in our advent wreath and in our hearts.
Light Candle
Recommended Hymn: Advent Song (Light the Advent Candle) The Faith We Sing #2090 vs 1-4
Lighting of the Advent Wreath – Christmas Eve Family Service
Introduction of the people lighting the wreath.
Share a time when you followed in the footsteps of Jesus or noticed God moving in your life
One: Today we stand on the precipice of wonder.
Here we are met with Angel and shepherds, donkeys and kings.
Here, we hear, “Do not be afraid!”
And it is hard not to be afraid when the world can be so cruel and so cold.
It is hard to believe when doors are shut and neighbors avert their eyes.
It is hard to trust when we worry.
And yet, it is here that you not only say, “Do not be afraid!” but also “I am with you. I am with you always.
Let us celebrate the good news of a newborn king coming into the world
Let us celebrate Christ the King coming this night to all.
.
So let us prepare to receive this child of grace.
Let us bask in the words, “Do not be afraid!’
Let us sing and dance and make a joyful noise, the King of Kings is coming.
The king of kings is born again tonight.
Let us today light the Christ candle in our advent wreath and in our hearts.
Recommended Hymn: Advent Candle Lighting – Light One Candle – Rainbow Songbook # 29 (Light each candle as we sing)
Lighting of the Advent Wreath on Christmas Night
Note: The entire service will be built around lighting the Advent Candles, readings, and hymns.
Call to Worship:~ written by Cheryl Lawrie and posted on [hold this space]. http://holdthisspace.org.au/
Call to Worship: Alleluias
It takes faith beyond imagining
to have come to hear this story
if you are living things too difficult
to be made sense of
by an ancient memory of angels and wise men.
It takes faith beyond imagining
to have come to hear this story
when you know that it will be a greater miracle
than any virgin birth
for love to be born right now in our world.
The alleluias we sing today
will not be to drown out the world’s truths that would deny them;
but to pray they will hold us in their faith.
So we gather
the bewildered, the broken hearted, the fragile and the hopeful
the faithful and the faithless
because all we have left when we stand in the world’s darkness
is this longing for love to be born once again.
Invocation – Holy Spirit, alight on us. Refresh our souls. Revive our hearts. Let us open ourselves to your movement and be attentive to your wake. Embolden our faith this Christmas Eve night that we might dare to believe again in miracles. AMEN
Hymn: O Come all Ye Faithful TNCH # 135
Tonight we will light our Advent candle in an unfolding tale of the Christmas story. First Comes: Hope
First Reading – Isaiah 40:3-5
Our story begins long before the birth of Jesus, long before his conception, long before even Mary was born. Our story begins with a people pushed and pulled, occupied and exiled: a people needing hope in what felt like a hopeless time. These words reverberate throughout our holy scripture, coming first in the book of Isaiah chapter 40 verses 3 through 5 and later through the mouth of John the Baptist as he proclaims the coming of the Lord. Open your heart to hear the hope for the world. May we all work to make it so.
A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Let us light the candle of hope.
HYMN: The Baptist Shouts on Jordan’s Shore TNCH # 115
Second Reading:
Our second candle will be lit for peace,
a peace that comes beyond all understanding, a peace that comes when you know that you are doing right, even if it is scary, even if you know others may not approve. This peace comes from the phrase that we have heard over and over from our Advent angels, “Be Not Afraid”. In our story tonight, there are two people who showed their bravery to stand where they knew they must, not because they thought it would make them popular, but because they knew they were needed. Let us hear the holy “Yes” that came from both Mary and from Joseph.
In Luke Chapter 1 verses 26-56, let us hear the story of Mary:
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”
And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant.
Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name;
indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away empty.
He has come to the aid of his child Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.
HYMN: My Heart Sings Out With Joyful Praise TNCH # 106
Third READING:
And in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 1 verses 18-24, we hear of Joseph’s encounter with the Angel:
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
“Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife
Let us Light the candle of Peace which gave Mary and Joseph the strength to make difficult choices
HYMN: Gentle Joseph, Joseph Dear TNCH # 105
Fourth Reading
Our Third Candle is light with joy – –
not just with happiness but with a deep seeded joy that can not be taken from us: a joy of the promise of a child born to us, a joy that means life can be different, a joy that inspires visions of both peace and hope. Open your ears and hear the predictive passage of the shoot that shall come from the stump of Jesse as found in the book of Isaiah chapter 11 verses 1 through 10:
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see
or decide by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge for the poor
and decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
The wolf shall live with the lamb;
the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the lion will feed together,
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.
Let us Light the candle of Joy for a vision of the world that seems almost impossible and yet we long for it and know that with God all things are possible.
HYMN: O Come, O Come Emmanuel TNCH #116
Fifth Reading:
And what is this all for if not love, a love which is beyond all understanding. God did not need to come and take the form of child, surely not a child of lowly estate born to people not even in their own home and yet this is our story. This is the story we tell at this time of year. A story of a love so great that it was willing to come into this world and share a life with us. Hear now the telling of this birth from Luke chapter 2 verses 1-7
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place in the guest room.
Let us Light the Candle of Love
which was born that night not to hoopla and triumphant praise, but it the quiet of stable, unknown to most of the world.
HYMN: O Little Town of Bethlehem TNCH #133
Sixth Reading:
We cannot forget of course the first visitors that came those shepherds who were led by the angels so that they might see the promised one.
Hear Luke 2
Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them, and Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them.
HYMN: It came Upon the Midnight Clear TNCH # 131
We have but one more candle to light, but before we do that, let us offer our prayers:
Prayer of Transformation (DMA)
On this night especially, O God, we recognize the distance between hope and reality. Help us to bridge that gap. Let us not just dream and talk of better ways, but let live in the way which your son taught us. Let us Love where it is challenging. Let us bring peace to places of unrest. Let us hope when it seems all is lost. And let us bring harmony to where there is dissonance.
Let us find joy in the simple things and be grateful for the many gifts we have. Let us be generous with all that we have and all that we are.
Let us be as Christ to the world. Honoring each person we meet and seeking for them as we ourselves would want.
Let us not limit this love to only this Advent and Christmas season, but may it shape each day of our lives and may it promote the vision to which you aspire of heaven on earth. We offer this prayer in word and in deed. AMEN
Prayers of the People
Lord, hear our prayers for the world. Enter our hearts and seek in this silence all that we hold within.
Silent reflection
Lord, hear our prayer.
AMEN
OFFERTORY
And now having prayed for the world, let us give to the world. Let us with open hand remember God’s gracious gift coming to us this night and let us imagine what it might look like if we all acted so generously. May we offer to God our thanks and praise.
Offertory Anthem –
Doxology –
Prayer of Dedication
God, on this holy night receive not just our words but our actions. Receive these gifts that we have put forth as a small representation of our heart. May this giving be not an ending, but just a beginning of our willingness to add to the blessings that you flow into this world. May we, and all we have, honor you each day. May we work with you to bring hope, peace, love, joy, and justice into this world by joining in your economics of generosity and reciprocity. May your kin-dom reign now and forevermore. AMEN
And now we prepare to light the last candle: the Christ Candle
Reflection–
Lighting of the Christ Candle
We light the Christ Candle to remember the gift that was given to us of a child so long ago and who comes to us each year.
The thing about this candle is that it is not meant to be the only candle light. Instead, it is the candle which has ignited all the others and so I invite you to stand as we offer our last song, “Silent Night” and prepare to go out into the night in silence and in awe. Deacons will bring you the light and we invite you to pass the light one to another being mindful to tilt the unlit candle into the lit candle rather than the other way around. Let us sing . . . and be filled with the joy, peace, love, and hope of this night.
Spreading of the Light
HYMN: Silent Night TNCH #134
Silently go into the night!
Advent Wreath Lighting the Sunday after Christmas
So all this season, we’ve been lighting these candles. Today I thought perhaps we could do it together and remember.
Who remembers what each of these candles represent?
Who can tell me a little bit about hope?
Light the hope candle
Who can tell me a little bit about love?
Light the love candle
Who can tell me a little bit about joy?
Light the joy candle
Who can tell me a little bit about peace?
Light the Peace candle
Now we have one more. What does this last candle stand for? Why do we wait to light it?
Did you know that Advent wreaths actually did not come into existence until about the 1830’s. Advent itself is not a Biblical mandate, but a way to teach about the coming of Christ. The candles can and sometimes do take on all sorts of different meanings, the most common today are the hope, love, peace and joy that we celebrate, but just as easily can be prophets, Mary and Joseph, shepherds, and angels or anything else we might want to put together that has meaning and purpose.
So I ask you, what does Advent and Christmas mean to you? What does the coming of the light mean in your heart?
Light the Christ Candle
And so for one last time this year, let us sing our Advent Song.
Hymn: Advent Song (Light the Advent Candle) The Faith We Sing #2090 whole song
Citation noted above.
TNCH – The New Century Hymnal
All rights reserved for that which is original. Permission granted for use in religious and educational settings with citation.
Wandering and Wondering 