Advent & Christmas
Liturgical Resources
Circle of Light, and Spirit Unseen: Music for the Weekly Advent Wreath Lighting
FROM KEVIN ROSE, MINISTER OF DISCIPLESHIP AND MISSION,
CUMBERLAND FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, INDIANAPOLIS, IN
WORDS © KEVIN ROSE 2015
TUNE “GREAT IS THE LORD” BY MICHAEL W. SMITH
Circle of light, and Spirit unseen
Call us from our routine, to surprise!
Wreath ever green, and candles aflame
Call us now to proclaim Christ arrives!
Lord be our light, let love shine among us
Lord be our light, and cause us to hope
Lord be our light, let joy fill our hearts, let peace rule your world
Come, be our light! Come, be our light!
A Litany Series for Advent
FROM ERIKA MARKSBURY, SENIOR PASTOR, FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF MCMINNVILLE, OR
LITANY FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT
The Candle of Hope
One: Long ago, the prophet spoke:
People walking in darkness would see a great light.
People dwelling in despair would be renewed.
All: Jesus, our Brother and our Friend,
We name you the Hope of the World.
We say your coming sets the world right –
The proud are humbled, the forgotten lifted up, the hungry fed.
One: You come at Christmastime
and we remember you meet us every day,
in each stranger and neighbor,
if only we let you in.
All: We light this candle, and we pray:
May hope light the world this Christmas.
LITANY FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT
The Candle of Peace
One: Long ago, the prophet set out a vision:
Lion and lamb, snake and child, together.
And no one afraid.
We have nothing to fear from each other.
All: Jesus, our Brother and our Friend,
We name you Prince of Peace.
We say your coming transforms our world –
weapons become plowshares, least become first.
One: You come at Christmastime
and we remember you meet us every day,
in each stranger and neighbor,
if only we let you in.
All: We light this candle, and we pray:
May peace light the world this Christmas.
LITANY FOR THE THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT
The Candle of Joy
One: Long ago, the prophet told the people:
Rejoice greatly! Shout out loud!
You king comes on a donkey – not to rule, but to serve.
All: Jesus, our Brother and our Friend,
We name your birth Joy to the World.
We say your coming is good news –
freedom for the oppressed, release for the captive.
One: You come at Christmastime
and we remember you meet us come every day,
in each stranger and neighbor,
if only we let you in.
All: We light this candle, and we pray:
May joy light the world this Christmas.
LITANY FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT
The Candle of Love
One: Long ago, the angel told Mary:
God is with you. There is nothing to fear.
And the man in the temple told her:
There is nothing like this love you will feel.
All: Jesus, our Brother and our Friend,
We name you Love Incarnate.
We say your coming makes God known anew –
embracing, healing, forgiving, restoring.
One: You come at Christmastime
and we remember you meet us every day,
in each stranger and neighbor,
if only we let you in.
All: We light this candle, and we pray:
May love light the world this Christmas.
LITANY FOR CHRISTMAS EVE
The Christ Candle
One: Long ago, Mary sang, rejoicing:
God has done wonders!
Fed the hungry, lifted the lowly,
remembered those who feared they were forgotten.
All: Jesus, our Brother and our Friend,
We name you the Promised One, God-with-Us.
You come this holy night,
and we remember you meet us every day,
in each stranger and neighbor,
if only we let you in.
One: Come to the hurting places, the neglected corners,
the desperate wounds of our hearts and of our world.
May our wonder at your love overcome all that divides us.
All: We light this candle, and we pray:
Be born again in us this Christmas.
Make us and all things new. Amen.
A Meditation for Advent 2014
BY LEDAYNE MCLEESE POLASKI
“I’m in no mood for Advent, “ I thought, glimpsing the purple banner emblazoned with the candle of hope.
From Freetown to Ferguson, mothers are weeping over the bloody bodies of their children. From Ayotzinapa to New York City, fathers are crying out over the murder of their daughters and their sons. Children sob for their parents. Parents wail for their children. Widows and orphans are being created day by day by bloody day.
How can we speak now of hope, peace, love, and joy?
And yet.
In those very days the Emperor Augustus commanded “all the world” to move according to his whim. And even poor and pregnant teenagers dared not defy the government order.
And . . .
King Herod made Rachel weep for all the children in and around Bethlehem, and she refused to be consoled because they were no more.
And . . .
Already the stage was set for Caiaphas the high priest to say that one might die for the sake of many.
And . . .
Pilate the governor to wash his hands and turn him over to be crucified.
In Advent we await the birth of a dark-skinned baby born in the midst of power-clutching, life-defying Empire; Empire built and sustained by military power, created and upheld by the belief of the righteous that some religions, some races mattered more than others.
In Advent we expect a boy born into streets in which soldiers acted with impunity never fearing indictment; government imprisoned or executed without question; and coopted religion refused to speak so that some mothers feared every time their children left their sight.
The very flesh of God came into this world, this world in which in which tender flesh is crushed, mothers’ hearts are broken, fathers’ spirits are destroyed, and children’s lives are shattered.
Ever and always God is born into this world, this broken and violent world.
And some, some few, some few barren, some few shepherds, some few elderly and righteous prophets look up and say, “Behold, God is with us.” They seek diligently and they find him, the one who scatters the proud, lifts the lowly, sends the rich away empty, and fills the hungry with good things.
And so I am in the mood for Advent.
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.
The Acolyte
FROM LEDAYNE MCLEESE POLASKI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BPFNA ~ BAUTISTAS POR LA PAZ
THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS, AND THE DARKNESS HAS NOT OVERCOME IT. JOHN 1:5
The acolyte,
his face all tension,
takes hesitant steps
down the aisle.
Every few feet
he halts completely
checking the flame
yet again.
Worship is done
and he has the job
of taking the light
to the world.
And what if he’s the one who lets the fire die?
We in the pews
smile a bit at his
sweet concentration
and concern.
Yet we know too
these halting steps,
the fear that we will
extinguish
The blaze of Peace, Love, Hope, Joy.
And yet . . .
The central claim
of our shared faith
is that this light is
beyond us
Beyond our power
beyond our skill
to either evoke
or destroy
It springs into life
Again and again
In the strangest places
And people
A desert bush
A manger baby
Even here, even now,
Even us
May it be so.
-December 22, 2014
A Prayer for Advent
OSCAR ROMERO
DECEMBER 3, 1978
Advent should admonish us to discover
in each brother or sister that we greet,
in each friend whose hand we shake,
in each beggar who asks for bread,
in each worker who wants to use the right to join a union,
in each peasant who looks for work in the coffee groves,
the face of Christ.
Then it would not be possible to rob them,
to cheat them,
to deny them their rights.
They are Christ,
and whatever is done to them
Christ will take as done to himself.
This is what Advent is:
Christ living among us.