Advent

[darylscook]

This year we are celebrating Jesus' Advent at church during the Christmas Season. I have always wanted to to do it and decided to. I introduced the advent wreath during Worship Yesterday morning (First Sunday of Advent) and read 2 sets of scriptures pointing to the First Advent and 1 set pointing to His second Advent. It went well (I think) especially considering OUR churches historical negative impression of liturgy. Each Sunday We will spend just a few minutes reflecting/Celebrating the 1st advent and anticipating the 2nd Advent, then having a prayer. We will do this right before the message. The Candle will burn through the rest of service. I'm excited.

I believe it helps focus us on the Savior born as much as the child born.

How many of you especially TCOG/CoGoP/CoG have participated in this?

God Bless You
Pastor Daryl

[Paully_44]

How many of you especially TCOG/CoGoP/CoG have participated in this?

we did this a couple years ago and i really liked it.

[teach]

sounds great daryl


wendy k

[forestwalker]

The themes of anticipation and preparation are a great blessing and the best I've found to pull the mind away from the commercialization and shallow sentimentality of the season. What are you doing that's liturgical?

[darylscook]

The themes of anticipation and preparation are a great blessing and the best I've found to pull the mind away from the commercialization and shallow sentimentality of the season. What are you doing that's liturgical?

I don't think I misused the word; maybe it did. I know there are formal liturgical services (e.g. Eucharist, etc.). I was thinking besides that, liturgy was simply Formal Public Worship. Having preplanned that for the next 4 weeks, we are going to .... including lighting a candle and leaving it lit thoughout the service. While we are not including it, but maybe some responsive reading, etc..

Hope that helps
Daryl

[Mike Vande]

I have a close friend who's the son of a Presbyterian minister, and he was brought up with liturgical worship. he doesn't care for it. His first personal experience with Jesus that he labeled as such was in a pentecostal setting after he left home. To him, that's the real thing, and the liturgy is religious mummery.
Me, I have been able to experience something of God in most of the church settings I have been in so far, I suspect because I don't have too many preconceived notions about most of them.

[forestwalker]

What are you doing that's liturgical?

I don't think I misused the word; maybe it did. I know there are formal liturgical services (e.g. Eucharist, etc.). I was thinking besides that, liturgy was simply Formal Public Worship.

Oops. Didn't mean to start off down a rabbit trail.

The themes of anticipation and preparation are a great blessing and the best I've found to pull the mind away from the commercialization and shallow sentimentality of the season.

Having preplanned that for the next 4 weeks, we are going to .... including lighting a candle and leaving it lit thoughout the service. While we are not including it, but maybe some responsive reading, etc..

Are your sermons on advent themes as well?

[darylscook]

FW

I am not sure about my sermons. I will probably lean that way, but not set in stone. The 4th Sun. of Advent will not have a Sermon with a children's program as well as a play. We will still have our Advent part of the Service.

Pastor Daryl

[free]

Have done it in the past but choose not to do it this year...I personally like it and my church enjoyed it...It was the first time many of them had seen it.

[jdavis]

I have been using the advent wreath and lighting the candles for about the last 16 years. My church loves it and has come to appreciate the symbolism. I have used many different themes over the years. Mary, Joseph, Wisemen, Shepherds. For the last few years I have used Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace. We have a different Sunday School Class come foreward and light the candles, read Scriptures, and pray. We begin and end the service with the Chorus to "O Come All Ye Faithful"

Below is what we are doing this year:

Lighting of the Advent Candles

Isaiah 60:2

Pastor: This morning we begin celebrating the season of Advent by lighting the first Advent candle. The word Advent means, “coming” or “arrival.” It is, in a sense, a countdown of anticipation in which we celebrate Christ’s first Advent, or coming, in which he was born into this world as a small child in a manger just over 2000 years ago.

The wreath and its candles are the visual focus of Advent. One of the candles is lit each week as Christmas approaches. The circle of the Advent wreath has no beginning and no end. It portrays for us God’s timelessness and His eternal plan of salvation. The evergreen color denotes eternal life that we are granted when we come to know Christ as our Lord and Savior. The shape of the wreath is round, reminding us of the fellowship of believers around the world who share with us the celebration of His coming.

The four outer candles represent the gifts of His spirit in us, which are: Hope, Peace, Love and Joy. If you will notice, on the outside there are three lavender or purple candles. This color reminds us of sorrow and repentance. The fourth outer candle is pink, which reminds us of joy.

The center candle is called the Christ candle. The Christ candle will be lit during our Christmas Eve service.


WEEK ONE: Lighting of the 1st Candle.

____________ will come to share the first Advent reading for us.

________: This Sunday we recall the hope we have in Christ. The prophets of Israel all spoke of the coming of Christ, of how a Savior would be born a King in the line of David. They spoke of how He would rule the world wisely and bless all nations.

_________: As the follower of Christ, we await His return. We light this candle, the candle of hope, to remember that as He came to us humbly in the manger at Bethlehem and gave light to the world, so He is coming again in power to deliver His people. We light this candle to remind us to be alert and to watch for His return. (_______ lights the 1st candle)

________: LET US PRAY – Loving God, we thank you for the promise of the Messiah who came to be the light of the world. Help us prepare our hearts to receive Him. Bless our worship. Help us to hear and do your Word. We ask it in the name of the one born in Bethlehem. Amen.


WEEK TWO: Lighting of the 2nd Candle

_____________ will come to share the second Advent reading for us.

__________: The second candle of the Advent is the candle of peace. It is sometimes called the Bethlehem Candle to remind us of the place in which preparations were made to receive and cradle the Christ Child.

_______: Peace is a gift that we must be prepared for. God gives us the gift of peace when we turn to Him in faith.

________: The prophet Isaiah calls Christ “the Prince of Peace.” Through John the Baptist and all the other prophets, God asks us to prepare our hearts so that He may come in.

________: Our hope is in God, and in His son Jesus Christ. Our peace is found in Him. We light this candle today to remind us that He brings peace to all who trust in Him. (_______ lights the 2nd Candle)

________: LET US PRAY: Loving God, thank you for the peace you give us through Jesus. Help us prepare our hearts to receive Him. Bless our worship. Guide us in all that we say and do. We ask it in the name of the one born in Bethlehem, Amen.


WEEK THREE: Lighting of the 3rd Candle.

_____________ will come to share the third Advent reading for us.

_______: The third candle of Advent is the Candle of Joy. It reminds us of the joy that Mary felt when the angel Gabriel told her that a special child would be born to her – a child who would save and deliver His people.

________: God wants us all to have joy. The angel who announced to the shepherds that Jesus had been born told them: “Do not be afraid. I am bringing you good news of a great joy for all people – for to you is born this day, in the City of David, a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

________: We light this candle to remember that Christ brings the promise of a new life – a life in which the blind receive sight, the lame walk, and the prisoners are set free. We light it to remember that He is the bringer of true and everlasting joy. (________ lights the 3rd candle).

________: LET US PRAY – Loving God, we thank you for the joy you bring us. Help us prepare our hearts for this gift. Bless our worship. Help us to hear and to do your word. We ask it in the name of the one born in Bethlehem. Amen.


WEEK FOUR: Lighting of the 4th Candle

_____________ shall come to share the fourth Advent reading for us.

________: The fourth candle of Advent is the Candle of Love. Its light is meant to remind us of the love that God has for us.

________: Jesus shows us God’s perfect love. He is God’s love in human form. The Bible says that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

________: Love is patient, love is kind and envies no one. Love is never boastful or conceited, rude or selfish. Love is not quick to take offense, it keeps no records of wrongs, it does not gloat over other people’s troubles, but rejoices in the right, the good, and the true. There is nothing that love cannot face, there is no limit to its faith, to its hope, to its endurance. Love never fails.

We light this candle today to remind us of how God’s perfect love is found in Jesus. (_____ lights the 4th candle).

LET US PRAY – Loving God, we thank you for your gift of love – shown to us perfectly in Jesus Christ our Lord. Help us prepare our hearts to receive Him. Bless our worship. Help us to hear and do your Word. We ask it in the name of the one born in Bethlehem. Amen.


CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE: Lighting of the 5th Candle

Pastor: We now light the Christ candle to remind us that the light of the world was born on Christmas Eve.

Read Isaiah 9:2-3a, 6

Prayer

[mavislb]

Last year in our Sunday School class I did all 4 weeks of advent in one Sunday. It was the first a lot of the class had heard and understood what the ceremony meant.

This year we started the Sunday after Thanksgiving. (I know, that means 5 Sundays this year and not 4). We are doing it during worship service. I set up candles in the shape of a nativity on a table up front. We have one brownish candle over to the side by itself. This was the first one lit. The speaker talked about the innkeeper. All our worship songs were about Jesus being the center of our lives and the pastor's message followed this theme. Christ is our hope.

Last Sunday the speaker lit the innkeeper candle and two blue candles for Mary and Joseph. She talked about love. Again, our songs were all on the love of God and the pastor's message was a message of salvation.

Next Sunday the speaker will add the green shepherd candles. He will talk about peace. The following Sunday the speaker will add the yellow angel candles and talk about joy.

The last Sunday all candles will be lit before service begins. I will briefly remind them of the innkeeper and no room as I extinguish this candle. The same will be with the other candles until only the Christ candle in the middle remains lit. HE HAS COME. He brings hope, love, peace, and joy. And HE IS COMING AGAIN. Not sure what the pastor will add for his message.

So far the congregation is really enjoying it. I think it brings Christmas to our minds every week and that it's not just about the presents but about the ONE who came to GIVE us life.

[Steve]

If you have children, there are three books that you HAVE to get to do for advent. We started two years ago, and it has become the most greatly anticipated event of the season.

The first book is called "Jotham's Journey: A Storybook for Advent". The books belongs to the Jotham's Journey Trilogy written by Arnold Ytreeide. They can be hard to find sometimes, but they are DEFINITELY worth the money!

Each story is a cliffhanger every day. The kids BEG to go on, but the way you are to read them is one chapter per day. They are used in conjunction with the advent candles, and you are encouraged to sing a song or read scripture in conjunction with them. It is all spelled out in the book.

One of the best parts is that you meet people in the first book who have small parts, like Bartholomew and Tabitha, and in the second book, "Bartholomew's Passage", Bartholomew is the focus, but you see the events of the first book retold from Bartholomew's point of view. The same goes for the last book, "Tabitha's Travels"

I cannot recommend these books highly enough. My children, age 5-15 ALL love them and anxiously await us reading them just before bed each night.

[Pastor Bill]

I have a close friend who's the son of a Presbyterian minister, and he was brought up with liturgical worship. he doesn't care for it. His first personal experience with Jesus that he labeled as such was in a pentecostal setting after he left home. To him, that's the real thing, and the liturgy is religious mummery.
Me, I have been able to experience something of God in most of the church settings I have been in so far, I suspect because I don't have too many preconceived notions about most of them.

I grew up Methodist, also very liturgical, and it bores me, but I notice many who did not grow up with it really seem to appreciate it. I guess it's like anything else, it's good for variety, and if you are seeking God you can get something out of it, but often we take what we're used to for granted.