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Advent: What Are We Waiting For?

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Advent: What Are We Waiting For? Advent: What Are We Waiting For? The Advent wreath is simply any four candles in a ring, with a fifth candle in the center, surrounded by greenery. You can buy a wreath, or make your own from candleholders you already own, bedecked with stray branches trimmed from your Christmas tree. For the wreath you’ll need 3 purple candles, one pink, and one white, but don’t stress too much about colors. The ritual holds whether or not you get it “right.” Advent is known as the waiting season, when we await God’s coming into the world as a being deeply in touch with both humanity and holiness, the great Peacemaker, Wonderful Counselor, “God with skin on.” We are “expectant” in the punny sense of Mother Mary, both waiting to see what will happen next, and pregnant with our own possibility. Advent is the time of magical, breath-holding anticipation for what might yet unfold, a new world appearing before our eyes. This Advent, we ask, “What are we waiting for?” Use one of these litanies each Sunday. Gather around the wreath, perhaps before a meal, and include the whole family in this mini-conversation. First Sunday: Hope Say, Hope is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all - (Emily Dickinson) Tonight we light the first candle, the candle of Hope. Ask everyone in the circle to finish these sentences: I hope for... (encourage more than one answer) When my hope leaves me, I can sometimes get it back by... Then light one purple candle and say, God, come, be our Hope when all seems hopeless. Perch in our souls, and sing Your song. Amen. Second Sunday: Peace Say, Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Wehre there is sadness, joy. (St. Francis) Tonight we light the second candle, the candle of Peace. Ask everyone in the circle to finish these sentences: I saw Peace this week when… The Peace I am still waiting for is... Then light one purple candle and say, God, make us instruments of your peace. Amen. Third Sunday: Joy Say, All Joy reminds. It is never a possession, always a desire for something longer ago or further away or ​ ​ still about to be. (CS Lewis) Tonight we light the third candle, the candle of Joy. Ask everyone in the circle to finish these sentences: Joy happened this week when… The Joy I am still waiting for is... Then light the pink candle and say, ​ ​ God, Joy is a muscle. It sometimes lives in my smile. Remind me to exercise it! Amen. Fourth Sunday: Love Say, I have decided to stick with Love. Hate is too great a burden to bear. (Martin Luther King) Tonight we light the fourth candle, the candle of Love. Ask everyone in the circle to finish these sentences: I felt Love this week when… The Love I am still waiting for is... Then light one purple candle and say, God, we are greedy. We have love in our lives, but we want more. May we give it away, so it returns to us tripled. Amen. Christmas Eve: Christ Say, “We human beings don't realize how great God is. God has given us an extraordinary brain and a sensitive loving heart. God has blessed us with two lips to talk and express our feelings, two eyes which see a world of colours and beauty, two feet which walk on the road of life, two hands to work for us, and two ears to hear the words of love. As I found with my ear, no one knows how much power they have in their each and every organ until they lose one.” (Malala Yousafzai) Tonight God comes to Earth again as Peace, Joy, Hope, Love, Christ: God with skin on. Feel Christ in you, the heart-light, the warmth of fingertips against fingertips. Christ is here because we are here ​ ​ and Christ is in us. Ask everyone in the circle to say in turn, I am Christ, and you are Christ. There is no more waiting. Then light one purple candle and say, God, thank You for being here with us. Grant us a merry Christmas and with it hope, peace, joy and love in one another, just as we are, and as we are becoming. Amen. **** Or a simpler liturgy: Advent Liturgy: First Sunday in Advent: Today we light the first Advent Candle, the candle of Hope. We light the ​ way for the One who is even now arriving, a signal fire for the Hope we have that the world, and we, may mirror Heaven every day. (light candle) Come, Lord Jesus, Hope in the dark. Second Sunday in Advent: Today we light the second Advent Candle, the candle of Peace. We ​ light the way for the One who is even now arriving, a signal fire for the Peace we long for in our lives: between nations, peoples, tribes and in our own homes. (light candle) Come, Lord Jesus, Prince of Peace. Third Sunday in Advent: Today we light the third Advent Candle, the candle of Joy. We light the ​ way for the One who is even now arriving, a signal fire for the little joys that make our hearts leap and our mouths LOL even in times of great difficulty. (light candle) Come, Lord Jesus, surprising our hearts with an unexpected thrill of joy. Fourth Sunday in Advent: Today we light the fourth Advent Candle, the candle of Love. We light ​ the way for the One who is even now arriving, a signal fire for the Love we have for one another, and the love God has for us. (light candle) Come, Lord Jesus, expose our love and tenderness for each other, and for every human child God has made. Christmas Eve: Today we light the fifth Advent Candle, the Christ Candle. For four weeks we have ​ taken our lights out from under a bushel, we have lit our signal fires, and God Herself has witnessed them, and come. Tonight, Christ is here among us. Feel the presence, and let your hearts burn within you, a light that will never be put out again. (light candle) First Sunday after Christmas: Today we re-light all five Advent Candles, of Hope, Peace, Joy, ​ Love, and Christ candle. Christmas is here, not for one day but for many. These lights burn, and our hearts within us, to signal that the distance between heaven and earth, between God and Her children, between human and divine, is closed forever because of the coming of the Christ Child. (light all candles) .
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