The Candle of Hope
R1 - Advent
is a season of waiting.
R2 - We are accustomed
to waiting. Waiting for seasons to change or holidays to arrive. Waiting for
news to be shared or plans to be completed. Waiting for things to go wrong or
anything to go right.
R1 - But Advent
is a different type of waiting; a waiting that demands our full preparation and
absolute anticipation.
R1 - Advent is
an active waiting, preparing us to witness the birth of Christ in all things
and in all places all over again.
R2 – Advent
is an invitation to wait within; within our pain for the world, our
disappointment in our morality, and our limits to transform the brokenness of
this world.
R1 – We wait
with this darkness to sort through our fears of the outsider, our doubts of our
own worthiness, and our wonders of Gods work in our futures.
R2 – We mourn
for refugees who wander, for violence that terrorizes our schools, for
relationships that may never reconcile.
R1 - To each
fear, to each doubt, and to each wonder, we lift these out of ourselves and up
to God knowing that in this darkness Advent calls us to make room for the light
of Christ that awaits each beating heart and blinking eye.
R2 – Today we
light the candle of Hope remembering we are called to clean out the clutter of
our souls and make space for the hope that surpasses all understanding. (Light Candle)
R1 – Let us
pray:
ALL: God of Hope, work in us as we wait for You. Erode the
hatred that has made our hearts its home. Rewrite on our souls the story of
Hope that the world has erased. Light our lives that they might be shining
stars on these darkening nights, O God, and that witnessing Your Hope to all
creation, we might journey to witness the birth of Light in darkness with Your world
at our side. Amen.
The Candle of Love
R1 – What are
we waiting on this Advent Season?
R2 – This
season we watch as squirmy children wait on Christmas break and sounds of
Santa’s sleigh.
R1 - We
overhear mumbled groans from teens waiting for finals to pass, parents to
understand, and ages to advance.
R2 - We are
surrounded by adults waiting to feel a little more grown up and a little less
old, eyes crossed in dual directions, waiting for everything and nothing all at
once.
R1 – Yet
beyond this busyness of bodily waiting it is our souls, in all ages, which wait
on Love’s arrival.
R2 – Souls
waiting to be comforted by touch, to be heard with the ears of another’s heart,
to be held and made whole in the homes of relationships.
R1 – We wait
on the arrival of a Love that cannot be created, contained, or destroyed in a
world that permeates a doctrine of harsh domination and brutal scarcity.
R2 – We wait
to welcome a new narrative for the world’s resources, a new hope for the
hopeless, and a new purpose for the powerful.
R1 – This
season may it be Love guiding our lives as we look within this cultural chaos
to find glimmering stars shining upon makeshift mangers and soft cries of new
life.
R2 – As we
light the candle of Love, may God prune and plant Love within each of us, that our
waiting may grow to replace darkness with light, despair with hope, and hatred
with love.
(Light
Candle)
R1 – Let us
pray together:
ALL: God of Love, work in us as we wait for You. Widen our
minds for the creation of loving action. Soften our hands for the work of
peaceful change. Weave tight our voices, that as our lives speak, the world
might reflect Love and Light in all forms. Amen.
The Candle of Joy
R1 – Joy waits
excitedly, patiently, like a child playing Hide and Seek, to be discovered all
around us.
R2 – Joy hiding
in bulb-strung trees decorates the monotony of our late-day commutes,
R1 – Joy
peeking out of the momentary connection offered by the slight smile of a
stranger passing by,
R2 – Joy camping
out in the comforting familiarity of ‘life as usual’ and the predicted arrival
of ‘the same old thing.’
R1 – So much
joy, tip toeing and twirling, simmering and stewing,
R2 – remaining
unwrapped and overlooked, invalidated and unappreciated under this cluttered
tree of life.
R2 – Still, in
all things, joy waits to be discovered, embraced, and given away.
R1 – We
prepare this week for the discovery of Joy in the ordinary and in the unusual,
R2 -searching
out its presence and promise as it works playfully for our awareness.
R1 – What joy
hides from us this day;
R2 – drowned
out in the chorus of a twenty-four hour news reel, exhausted by the steady
rhythm of endless to-do lists, silenced by a taunting distance between our
means and our ends.
R1 – What joy
waits on us this day;
R2 - sheltered
under the arch of a star-strung roof, laying between the slow noises of all
God’s creatures, preparing the arrival of all the world’s eyes?
R1 – As we
light the candle of Joy, we remember to uncover in our lives the stable stars
sent to all people, promising to continually guide us through desperate
darkness, toward the deep rays of a Joy whose power permeates every context and
whose presence makes visible all new beginnings.
(Light
Candle)
R1 – Let us
pray together:
ALL:
God of Joyful Beginnings,
Light in us a flame,
that anxieties freezing us within unhealthy situations
might melt away in our active preparation.
Redirect us, Oh God,
from closed doors
and endless elevators
that no longer permit us to wait upon your arrival
with a joyful certainty.
Amen.
The Candle of Peace
R1 – Peace,
symbolized by doves on stained glass, exists as a mythical creature past the
boundaries of this building.
R2 –Where is
this promise of Peace in a world where refugees fleeing war torn countries wash
up on shores
R1 –Where is
this promise of Peace on living room screens holding sweet faces of young
children gunned down while learning the alphabet?
R2 – Hope. Love.
Joy. These playfully hide in our midst, but peace gasps, wrestles and strains
against our present reality to resist abandoning even the most vigorous
imagination.
R1 – A dull,
deep pain takes us residence among the conflict and threatens to drain each
heart of the expectation of Peace’s presence while our bodies brace for the next
gun shot and tired eyes dart for a safety now unseen.
R2 – Huddled
behind the locked doors of our lives, Advent courageously creeps forward revealing
promises of peace. Peace cautiously camouflaged in the shine of each star. Peace
breaking free in silent dances of falling snowflakes.
R1 – In all
things, Advent exists to draws us out and beyond our fear-threaded stories to
imagine once more the peaceful potential of Emmanuel, God-with-us.
R2 – Advent
sings hymns of new birth as barefoot children chase falling dreams out into the
night to gather them up in jars of tomorrow.
R1 – Advent
settles us, returns to us the breath of life, stolen by the greedy voids of
this world.
R2 – Advent
delivers to us scenes of hope, of love, of joy, and, yes, even of peace.
R1 – As we
light the candle of Peace, we reclaim from the grip of hate and the rhetoric of
fear, the power of our active presence in this world of Divine-making so that quilting
together patches of peace with our lives the world would be sheltered by the
blanket of a new story.
(Light
Candle)
R1 – Let us
pray together:
ALL: God of Creation,
We find ourselves at war
with all of creation,
craving your communal
salvation
from the redundancy of
violent endings
and the expectancy of
tragic loss.
Guide us, O God, in
labor that leads to
assumptions of peaceful
equality,
assurances of goodness
in all things,
and anticipations of
your Good News visible among us.
Amen.
The Christ Candle
R1 – An
undeniable magic rises up from the settled dust of our lives this evening.
R2 – Hope and
expectation circle this hour like light-strings on trees.
R1 – Silently
we hold out hope that this year Christmas will deliver miracles of resurrected relationships,
bodies made whole, hope made tangible.
R2 – Advent is
spent holding our breath for the promise of a morning loaded with transformational
moments;
R1 – moments that
arrive each year as unexpected joy and predictable sorrow wading in the midst
of the monotonous in-between as our days unwrap.
R2 – And despite
all good intentions, all practical preparations, Christmas Day sneaks up on the
shore of our lives like the afternoon tide.
R1 – Time
slows. People gather. Gifts speaking truths that we long ago silenced are given
and accepted.
R2 – Truths
of “I love you.” (Pause) “I miss you.” (Pause) “I need you.” (Pause)
R1 – In a
single thought we mourn the passing of Christmas while praying it will be
behind us soon.
R2 – How
often we journey away from our cluttered routines with full cars and empty hearts.
R1 – We light
the Christ Candle this evening to acknowledge that we will always wait for more
than our Christmas mornings could ever deliver.
R2 – We yearn
for a peace not tasted, a love which flees before our slow recognition, a joy
that rises up and dissipates in a climate made dry by despair, and a hope that
steadily lingers in each new beginning.
R1 – This
evening we prepare to once again to welcome these laboring pains as a sign to
keep pushing toward the arrival of a future which waits just outside the
boundaries of our knowing.
R2 – We push
toward a world order where together our lives birth hope (light blue candle), our gifts speak love (light blue candle), our home shines joy (light pink candle), and our hands build peace (light blue candle).
R1 – As we
light the Christ candle, we let go of Christmas as we believe it to be and make
room for what Christmas is; a recognition of our need for continual
transformation and a claim upon our ability to cultivate this change thanks be
to the grace of a ‘God With Us’.
(Light
Candle)
R1 – Let us
pray together:
ALL: Abiding God,
You remain with us
always.
You wake us from naps of
apathy,
and settle us from fits
of restlessness.
You calm us in the manger
of promise,
And faithfully labor
within and among us.
This Christmas may we make
room for the fruits of your labors,
that we might shine
forth as Your light for this world. Amen.
