Special Worship Resources for Advent, Year A - Updated

ADVENT PRAYER

Advent Prayer by Henri J.M. Nouwen

Lord Jesus,
Master of both the light and the darkness, send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas.
We who have so much to do seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day.
We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us.
We who are blessed in so many ways long for the complete joy of your kingdom.
We whose hearts are heavy seek the joy of your presence.
We are your people, walking in darkness, yet seeking the light.
To you we say, “Come Lord Jesus!”
Amen.

Courtesy of Advent by Scott Freeman, posted on Monday, 26 November 2007

ADVENT HYMNS

The King Shall Come: An Advent Hymn “The King Shall Come” was the first hymn in the Advent section of the 1964 Methodist Hymnal (no. 353), but it is not in the current United Methodist Hymnal (1989). You can find it here accompanied with two tunes: St. Stephen, which was used in the 1964 hymnal, and Morningsong (which has a beautiful, lilting “Advent” sound to it and it my preference). This Hymn is provided in both the Sibelius music notation program (using the Sibelius Scorch plug-in) and in pdf format.

Four Advent Hymns with Lectionary Texts (Year A) By F. Richard Garland. These four Advent hymns have been set to familiar tunes and are closely related to the lectionary readings for Year A, and also utilize the often used progression of Advent Candle themes of Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy.

GENERAL ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS RESOURCES

Advent Candle Lighting Liturgies
by Bron Yocum, First UMC, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. (Additional weeks will be added when they are available)

WEEK ONE

VOICE 1: If you move aside the tinsel, sweep away the cookie crumbs and push past the torn wrapping paper, you will come at last to the heart of Christmas. Even then, it takes patience and a listening ear to understand God’s purpose in the events of that first Christmas. The prophet Isaiah, writing centuries before the birth of Christ, heard the whispers of what was to come, and gave his people hope. Hear his words in Isaiah21:1-5.

VOICE 2: Read Isaiah 2:1-5

VOICE 3: Isaiah speaks to people facing the threat of invasion, to peasants barely able to scrape together enough to buy that day’s bread. To all of them, he gives this counsel: hope in the Lord. There is reason for hope, he declares. God will provide a future, and will free captive Israel to love and serve the Lord in the world. And so today, we light the candle of Hope.

VOICE 4: Let us pray:

God of hope, we live in a world gone awry. Plowshares are beaten into swords, school age children wield guns and sin infects every corner of our lives. Give us reason to hope, Lord. Remind us of the good news you sent us that first Christmas, and help us to wait in joyful anticipation until Christ comes again. Amen.

SUNG RESPONSE: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, verse 1

WEEK TWO

VOICE 1: At the heart of Christmas is a dream. Not the dream of a white Christmas or of sugar plums, but the dream of a world set right. It’s a dream of people living together in harmony, all creation reconciled and restored to God’s purposes. Everyone will be our neighbor, people we care about and who care us. And our concern will extend to creatures great and small. Hear how Isaiah describes that dream in the the eleventh chapter, verses 1 through 10.

VOICE 2: Read Isaiah 11:1-10

VOICE 3: Yes, it is a dream not yet realized. What a vision. It is a dream of shalom, of the wholeness and healing of all creation. It is the world living in peace, with all creatures reconciled to one another. This peace is our hope for the future, but it is also our guide. It shows us what God intended for the creation, and invites us to begin to live into that vision even now. Peace will not come in one fell swoop from outside us. It will be realized little by little as God works in and through us to bring about peace and to teach the world the meaning of reconciliation. And so today we light the candle of Peace.

VOICE 4: Let us pray:

God of peace, we live in a world of conflict. From battlefields to boardrooms, we choose up sides and struggle with each other, creating winners and losers, victors and defeated. Open our hearts to the dream of peace, to the ways of reconciliation rather than conflict. Let us live as participants in that dream, so that our lives may stand as a signal to the world of your good news. Amen.

SUNG RESPONSE: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, verse 4

WEEK THREE

VOICE 1: The joy of Christmas morning under the tree is so fragile. When the clothes are the wrong size or a part is missing or we forgot to buy batteries, our initial joy disappears in disappointment or frustration. But the joy that lies at the heart of Christmas is not diminished by temporary setbacks. The true joy of Christmas is the confidence that comes despite setbacks. It is the joy we know when everything around us is a desert wasteland, but we still believe God’s promise that even the desert will bloom and be filled with life. We know in our heart that the wilderness will rejoice, the weak will be made strong and God’s people will find that their joy is not in trees and presents and shiny ornaments, but in the promises of God. Isaiah’s poetry brings that to life in chapter 35, verses 1 through 10.

VOICE 2: Read Isaiah 35:1-10

VOICE 3: Isaiah was speaking to a people who knew despair intimately. They had been carried off to Babylon as captives. Home seemed like a far off dream – across the vast wasteland that separated Babylon from Judea. The desert was a cruel place, dry and lifeless, just like their lives in Babylon. But God promises that even that desert will bloom and burst with life. It won’t happen because of what the people do, but because of who God is – the one who has the power to open the eyes of the blind, to create pools of water on desert sands, even to raise the dead. The deserts of our lives may look different, but the promise is the same. “Here is your God. He will come and save you.” How can we not rejoice and sing for joy. And so we light the third candle on our Advent wreath, the pink candle, the candle of joy.

VOICE 4: Let us pray:

God of joy, give us the confidence to rejoice in your promises. Remind us again that you have the power to bring flowers out of desert sands and streams in dry river beds. You have promised a new beginning to people facing dead ends; you have given new life to those who knew only death. Fill our hearts with joy as we celebrate that good news and wait with patience for you to fulfill your promise. Let us rejoice that now and forever, our God reigns. Amen.

SUNG RESPONSE: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, verse 6

WEEK FOUR

VOICE 1: At the heart of Christmas is the most amazing claim – that God, the one who is the all powerful creator, the one who can speak worlds into being – that very God would set aside all the glory and majesty of being God to come and live with us. God didn’t come with lightening and thunder to frighten us into obedience; nor did God come with awesome power to force us to live God’s way. God came in love, to live the very life we live, to be God with us and to save us from our sin. Isaiah saw God’s love present in the birth of a special child. His prophecy foretold the birth of a child not only in his own era, but in the time ahead, when another would be known as Immanuel, God with us. Hear how Isaiah describes God’s act of gracious love.

VOICE 2: Read Isaiah 7:10-16

VOICE 3: Immanuel – God with us. What an amazing promise. God has given us a sign in the birth of a baby, a sign to give us hope. And that sign is the ultimate act of love, an incredible act of self-sacrifice. Jesus Christ began life in sacrifice, giving up all the trappings of divinity, setting aside his power and majesty to come as a tiny baby. The one who holds our fate in his hands, allowed himself to be held in our hands as a helpless infant. His entire life, from birth to death, showed us the meaning of sacrificial love. And so we light the fourth candle this morning, the candle of love.

VOICE 4: Let us pray:

God of grace, in Jesus Christ you came to live as one of us, offering yourself to us in love and humility. You whom all the angels adore, you whom the earth proclaims creator, you came to us in weakness, a tiny baby laid in manger. Give us the grace to see your presence in the babe of Bethlehem. May we acknowledge you as our Lord, and offer you our gifts of love and obedience this Christmas. Amen.

SUNG RESPONSE: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, verse 7

———-

2007 Advent Liturgies from the Presbyterian Church in Canada

“The 2007 Advent liturgies were written by The Reverend Kate Ballagh-Steeper, a PWS&D executive committee member. There is a liturgy for each Sunday of Advent along with a story about the work of PWS&D on the back. They have been designed to use around the lighting of the Advent candles and follow the themes of hope, peace, joy and love. Large-print versions are available to order or you can download them here and print them yourself.”

Advent Wreath Liturgy from the National Presbyterian Church website, which focuses on the traditional words of hope, peace, joy and love.

Advent Wreath Liturgy by Mark Earey - This a pdf file you can download and use that contains a new song written by Earey (set to the the tune “Angel’s Story,” and reflections for each Sunday entitled: “The Advent Hope,” “The Prophets,” “John the Baptist,” “Mary,” and “Christmas Day - Jesus.”

Prayers for Use at the Advent Wreath As the site states: “There are 4 prayers (in a variety of styles) for each of the Sundays of Advent and for Christmas Day. The first three prayers in each set follow the traditional sequence:

Advent Sunday - The Patriarchs
Second Sunday of Advent - The Prophets
Third Sunday of Advent - The Forerunner (John the Baptist)
Fourth Sunday of Advent - The Virgin Mary
Christmas Day - The Christ

The fourth prayer in each set picks up on themes to be found in the readings of the Common Worship Principal Service Lectionary.

———-

There are a ton of resources for Advent and Christmas on the General Board of Discipleship (UMC) webpages. The best place to start is here. I would personally recommend the following:

Advent Wreath Candlelighting Meditations for Home and Church — 2007 by by Dean B. McIntyre. As the site says: “These short meditations may be used with the weekly lighting of candles of an Advent wreath on the four Sundays of Advent and Christmas Eve. The meditations may be freely adapted for use in Sunday school or worship, but they are designed especially for use in the home. They consist of a Scripture reading taken from the Lectionary passages for that day, as well as short prayers and one stanza of “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” on the four Sundays and one stanza of “O Little Town of Bethlehem” on Christmas Eve.”

Christmas Doxology (Words by Brenda Heard; Polish carol “Infant Holy” - United Methodist Hymnal, No. 220) This Doxology was written by local church musician Brenda Heard for her own congregation, East Heights UMC, Wichita, Kansas. This arrangement is provided in both the Sibelius music notation program (using the Sibelius Scorch plug-in) and in pdf format.

Four Doxologies (or Offertory Responses) for Advent and Christmas The familiar words of the Doxology are set to four familiar tunes for use during Advent and Christmas (”O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” “The First Noel,” and “What Child Is This.” As the site states: “These files are available for copying and use without permission, and they are available in both PDF and Sibelius versions. They include guitar chords that match the hymnal chords in the original key as well as a more guitar-friendly key, if needed.”

Technorati tags: Advent C, hymns, worship resources, Advent Wreath, liturgies, prayers