Everlasting Light

A Resource for Advent Worship

Sandy Dixon

• Publisher: Chalice Press
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9780827208377
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Rituals & Practice

This collection of litanies, candlelighting services, a hanging of the greens service, and more offers worship resources for the three years of lectionary reading for Advent, including the Sunday after Christmas.

YEAR B

First Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 64:1–9. Psalm 80:1–7, 17–19.
1 Corinthians 1:3–9. Mark 13:24–37.

LITANY OF LIGHT (from Isaiah 64 and Psalm 80)

Come, wait for the LORD’s coming as we begin the Advent Season.

How do we know it is the time for the LORD to come?

What signs will we see?

Hear the word of God spoken to help us know the coming Christ.

From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him. Restore us, O LORD God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved. We are your people!

MEDITATION

Do you remember a time, maybe when you were a child, when you were so excited that you could hardly wait for something to happen? It was hard to sleep at night because you were so excited. Did you ever wait for someone special to come to see you, and you stood or sat at a window to watch for them to pull into the driveway? You weren’t exactly sure what time they would come, but you wanted to be ready!

Advent is about waiting and being ready. We are waiting for the Christ to come. Again. We have had many Advents and Christmases. Yet the waiting is no less significant. The waiting gives us time to get ready. We must be always alert, awake, and excited. We must watch in our daily lives this Advent, as during the whole year, for ways the Christ enters our lives. As we wait for God, we can know that God works in our lives. And we know that we are God’s people and can wait in hope.

LIGHTING OF THE FIRST ADVENT CANDLE

UNISON PRAYER

God and Father of Christ our Savior, help us as we wait for the coming again of the baby Jesus. Keep us alert, awake, and aware of the times in our lives when we know your salvation. Even more, help us to share that good news of salvation with others. Amen.

CHILDREN’S SERMON STARTER

Ask the children if there is a day coming soon that they are excited about. The answer, even this early, will be Christmas! Talk with them about waiting and being excited. Christ’s coming is worth being excited about. Guide them into thinking of ways they can wait and let others see that they are God’s children by their actions. Close with prayer thanking God for choosing the children as God’s own, asking that God guide their actions and words during this season of waiting.

OFFERING PRAYER

“In the places where we are broken, in the dark holes where something is missing, in the silence of unanswered questions, the wondrous gift is given.”¹ We are your people, God, and we thank you for your presence and our salvation. Because you have chosen us, we offer these gifts to you in thanksgiving. Use them, we pray, to help others to know you, so that they will rejoice in your coming once more. Use these gifts to give hope to the hopeless, love to the unloved, and healing to those who are broken. Amen.

COMMUNION PRAYER

Into a world of noise and confusion, you will come to us quietly, Lord Jesus, as a child. Into a world of darkness, you will bring light. Into a world of greediness and desire, you will come as the perfect gift—the gift of love from our Creator. Into a world filled with hunger and thirst, you will come to give us bread and wine so we will never have to spiritually hunger or thirst. As we wait for the coming of the Christ, let us take the bread and cup, remembering that sacrifice made in love for us. Fed and refreshed, we thank you, our Savior, for life anew. Amen.²

BENEDICTION AND BLESSING (from 1 Corinthians 1)

Go into the world. Wait for the Christ who is and is to come. You do not lack any spiritual gift as you wait. God gives you strength. God is faithful. Yes, go in this knowledge, in the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

___________________

¹From Harriett Richie, “He’d Come Here,” Christian Century (December 13, l995).

²Michael E. Dixon and Sandy Dixon, Fed by God’s Grace, Year B (St. Louis: Chalice Press, l999), p. 7.

Second Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 40:1–11. Psalm 85:1–2, 8–13.
2 Peter 3:8–15a. Mark 1:1–8.

LITANY OF LIGHT (from Psalm 85)

Let us speak the words of old, the words that gave comfort to God’s people.

Surely salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.

MEN: Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.

WOMEN: Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky.

The LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps.

Let us keep these words in our hearts as we wait for the Lord.

LIGHTING OF PREVIOUS SUNDAY’S CANDLE

MEDITATION

Imagine yourself to be a pioneer in the nineteenth century. You have packed up what belongings you could fit into the covered wagon and have set out from the flatlands of central Illinois with your spouse and children to move west to the wonders and riches of California. With your horses and other livestock, you have slowly crossed the Mississippi, the Missouri probably twice. You have gone across the plains of Kansas and the flats of eastern Colorado. You see the famed mountains alarmingly near. Even though the guide is experienced in finding mountain passes, you and your family have no idea how you can get across. If only somehow those valleys and mountains could be made smooth, just like the plains you just crossed.

The prophet cried out that in preparation for the Lord, this is what should happen. The valleys would be evened out, the rough places made smooth. In our frantic lives this Advent, we can look for ways to smooth our own rough places, to even out our valleys. And even more, to seek out ways to help others do the same.

LIGHTING OF THE SECOND ADVENT CANDLE

UNISON PRAYER

As we prepare for your coming this Advent season, help us seek ways to let go of our frantic-ness that comes with the Christmas season. Help us find ways to make our preparations truly reflect your coming, God of promise. We rest in the assurance that you are with us, feeding us with your spiritual nourishment. Amen.

CHILDREN’S SERMON STARTER

Ask the children if they have seen work on a highway with large equipment smoothing out ridges, or if maybe they have played with trucks in a sandbox or dirt and have smoothed over the hills they made. See if they can tell which would be easier to travel on—the rough, hilly way or ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Hanging of the Greens
• Year A
• Year B
• Year C
• Christmas Sunday
• Additional Resources