ADVENT RITUAL

Setting the stage

Find a quiet, dark place for the group to gather. The chancel of a sanctuary is a good place. There is something mysterious and moving about being in a familiar worship space at night when it is dark. If you have a large chancel, set up in the middle of it and have everyone sit in a circle right up in front. Set up four candles in the middle of the space on a low table. Decorate the table with purple cloth and symbols of birth, love, peace, hope, and joy. Get volunteers for the readers’ parts and someone to light the candles at the appropriate times. Have a small pin flashlight or a candle to illuminate the pages for the readers. Make sure you have a Bible and mark it at the appropriate places for easy access. If your group uses Spiritual Life Journals, make sure everyone has theirs.

Reader 1:

Advent is a time of waiting. In the Northern Hemisphere, it is a time of waiting for the long hours of darkness to become lighter; a time of waiting, sometime in silence, sometime in song. A time of experiencing in our bodies, our hearts, our very souls, the ancient long for Hope, for Peace, for Love, for Joy, and for the embodiment of those things in a tiny vulnerable baby child in a manger. Emanuel, God with us.

Sing the chorus of “O Come, O come, Emanuel”

Reader 2:

Being with the darkness….

The creation myth of the Judeo-Christian and Islamic heritage tell us…

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

Reader 3:

Darkness. Mystery. Wisdom deep and beyond the knowing of the mind. Darkness in the whirlings of the universe. Most of us have a fear of the dark, of what we can not see. But in the beginning there was darkness and God was in the darkness long before there was light. Let us take a minute and feel the darkness and the whispering secrets of life it holds for us in this Advent time.

Let there be a few minutes of silence.

Reader 4:

Let us pray…God who is in the darkness, help us at this time of Advent to welcome the darkness, the silence, the stillness that existed before there was light. Let us remember that is was in the dark of night that shepherds waited on the quiet hillsides with their sheep, that Mary and Joseph waited in the darkness for the birth of Jesus. Help us to not be afraid of the dark, but to listen to it, to watch, and to wait. Amen.

Sing the chorus of “O Come, O come, Emanuel”

Reader 1:

In Advent we wait. We wait and prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth. We are here because God’s promises to our spiritual ancestors came true when Jesus was born. We wait and we hope.

Light first candle.

Scripture Reader:

Read Isaiah 60:1-3

Reader 1:

What do you hope for? What do you hope for in your personal life? What do you hope for in your family life? What do you hope for in the life of our community? What do you hope for in the life of our world? Take a few moments in silence to lift your hopes up to God.

Let there be a few minutes of silence. If you are using Spiritual Life Journals invite people to write down their prayers and thoughts quietly.

Reader 1:

Thank you God for hope and the answers to our prayers.

Sing the chorus of “O Come, O come, Emanuel”

Reader 2:

In Advent we wait. We wait and prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth. Christ helps us to live as God hopes for us to live. To live in peace. One of Jesus’ names is “The Prince of Peace.

Light second candle.

Scripture Reader:

Read Isaiah 9:6-7

Reader 2:

Where do you need peace? What things are at war within your very soul? Where is there conflict in your family? In our community? In our World? Where do you and we need peace? Take time in silence to lift your prayers for peace to God.

Let there be a few minutes of silence. If you are using Spiritual Life Journals invite people to write down their prayers and thoughts quietly.

Reader 2:

Thank you God for peace and the answers to our prayers.

Sing the chorus of “O Come, O come, Emanuel”

Reader 3:

In Advent we wait. We wait and prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth. Christmas happens when God comes to us in love through Jesus Christ and fills us with love for all humankind.

Light third candle.

Scripture Reader:

Read The First Letter of John 4:7-12

Reader 3:

Where do you need love? How can you love yourself? How can you show love to your family? How can you show love in our community? In our world? Where do you need love?

Let there be a few minutes of silence. If you are using Spiritual Life Journals invite people to write down their prayers and thoughts quietly.

Reader 3:

Thank you God for love and the answers to our prayers.

Sing the first verse of “Joy to the World”

Reader 4:

In Advent we wait. We wait and prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth. We worship God with Joy in our hearts as we are reminded of the words the angel said on that first Christmas day: “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will come to all people.”

Light fourth candle.

Scripture Reader:

Read the Gospel of John 15:9-11

Reader 4:

Where is there the need for joy in your own life? What parts of your family need joy? What parts of our community and world need joy? Where is there joy in your life? In your family? In our community and in our world? Where do we need joy, and where is joy already present?

Let there be a few minutes of silence. If you are using Spiritual Life Journals invite people to write down their prayers and thoughts quietly.

Reader 4:

Thank you God for joy and the answers to our prayers.

Reader 1:

We continue to wait.

Reader 2:

We wait in the darkness, knowing that through God there is great Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy.

Reader 3:

We wait for Christmas and the birth of Christ in us, in our families, in our community, in our world.

Reader 4:

Go into the darkness and wait for the fulfillment of God’s promises to us.

Deepening Faith: Youth Ministry Resources and Some Miscellaneous Advice

Rev. Lizann Bassham, Front Porch Spirit Press