Candle Lighting Services for Individuals and Groups Advent 2016

Transcription

1 Candle Lighting Services for Individuals and Groups Advent 2016 Hope Read: Then they will beat their swords into iron plows and their spears into pruning tools. Nation will not take up sword against nation; they will no longer learn how to make war. (Isaiah 2:4 5)* Reflect: As we enter this season of preparation and anticipation, we settle into the notion that we do not have to choose sides. We do not have to stick our stake into the ground to declare that our way of thinking, denominational beliefs, political party, or social location matters so much that we cannot see how our proverbial swords and spears can be used for good. Speak aloud: We light the candle of Hope. How might we choose to walk by the Lord s light today? Where might we rest in the intersections of faith and hope, love and liberty, obedience and the birthing of the newness of life? Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk by the Lord s light. Pray: God of light and dark, God of peace and God of agitation, God of the future, past, and present, compel us to become intentional about putting down the tools of divisiveness. Empower us to pick up the tools that bring us together. As we await your coming, teach us to hope in the reconciling love you have for the world. Amen. *Scripture quotations are from the Common English Bible, copyright 2011 by Common English Bible.

2 Change Read: In those days John the Baptist appeared in the desert of Judea announcing, Change your hearts and lives! Here comes the kingdom of heaven! (Matthew 3:1 2) Reflect: John the Baptizer proclaimed the coming kingdom from the edges of life, and the centers of power had to shift their mighty bulk to confront him. We are called to come out into the borderlands, where the ache of loss is written on people s faces, where the powerless cry out for justice, where the forgotten are discarded. On that wild riverbank, John invites us to confess the sins that separated us from them and to let ourselves be dipped into the terrifying water of repentance. Speak aloud: We light the candle of Change. How do we hear John s call to change our hearts and lives? Where are we stuck in the paradigms of the powerful? Who are the people who make us the most uncomfortable? What are the edge places where we might encounter God s kingdom? Consider how God may be calling us to action. Pray: God who is always coming and always present, God who is both a compassionate ruler and passionate servant, God who is at the center of all things and who holds the edges in special care, you show up in the margins of the world, making your presence clear in places we would rather forget. Break the habits that keep us from preparing your way across edges and boundaries, so that we may be formed into your people. Amen.

3 Waiting Read: Therefore, brothers and sisters, you must be patient as you wait for the coming of the Lord. (James 5:7a) Reflect: We are in the third week of Advent, and the time we have waited for the birth of Christ can seem laborious; the more we wait, the more anxious we become. The more we watch, the more we seem to grow short on patience. Do we not know the glory that is in waiting? Waiting prepares us, shapes us, molds us, and engages us in what is to come. In waiting, we fashion spaces for the Spirit to come in and dwell with us. Speak aloud: We light the candle of Waiting. As we near the end of Advent, think of the places where it is hard for us to be patient, not only with the coming of the Lord but also with one another. How might our anxiousness to reach the end withhold us from the beauty of what happens as we wait? Where might we see opportunities for preparation to receive the Spirit? Pray: God of long abiding and swift justice, God of deep silences and celebratory shouts, God of our expectant hearts and our longing communities, we are waiting for you. Even in our anxiousness and uncertainty, we wait. Grow in us the patience to prepare to receive all that you have in store for us this season. Amen.

4 Justice Read: The earth will surely be filled with the knowledge of the LORD, just as the water covers the sea. (Isaiah 11:9b) Reflect: The prophet Isaiah described a reality in which the Prince of Peace will bring justice and restoration to the whole of existence. As we work to eradicate poverty and inequality, as we wrestle with pressing issues of environmental degradation, and as we sometimes despair of ever living in a world where God s justice will cover the earth like the water covers the sea, Isaiah s vision speaks hope. In this final week of Advent, we are called to live in the audacious promise that everything in the universe is being made new, and we are all invited to the daring celebration of God s emerging shalom. Speak aloud: We light the candle of Justice. We name and celebrate the places where we witness God s justice breaking in. Pray: God of dust motes and supernovas, God of bacteria and blue whales, God of the poor and the powerful, we thank you that you call us all into your kingdom of shalom of justice and wholeness and peace. Teach us to notice and nurture the seeds of your kingdom, so that the knowledge of your goodness will flood the earth. Amen.

5 Christmas Day Read: To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God. [...] and the Word became flesh and lived among us. (John 1:12, 14a, NRSV)* Reflect: This Christmas day we celebrate God s in-breaking to our broken and beautiful world. Our fleshy business of birthing babies, feeding mouths, living, dying, laughing, and loving is God s business because God s home is made among us. When the Word makes a home with us, we are called to make our home with the Word. We are empowered to become God s children and partners, laboring with God to birth new life for all of creation. Speak Aloud: We light the Christ candle. How do we join in the incarnation of hope, change, and justice God brings to those who wait? Pray: God who exists in every molecule and who holds more than we can ever imagine, God who cries and who laughs, God of all that has been made and all that will be, we thank you for your presence among us. Restore our assurance of our place as your children, so that we might live as your body in the world, extending your healing presence beyond all borders. Amen. Alisha L. Gordon and Cassidhe Hart *Scripture quotation is from the New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.