From my book, Advent Adventure, celebrate with me the first Sunday in Advent.
THE ADVENT WREATH
The four Sundays before Christmas are times of celebration with the Advent Wreath ceremony. If Christmas falls on the weekend, this can be the fifth Sunday. Each year’s dates will be different. The Christ Candle is lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, or both, symbolic of the presence of Jesus, the Light of the World.
As previously mentioned, he colors of advent are not red and green! Rather, since even before the medieval period, purple is used because of its connection to royalty and as a sign of penitence. Purple dye has always been difficult to find, therefore expensive. It is used during this period of the church calendar year in churches using liturgical colors. Traditionally, therefore, the wreath uses three purple candles, and the love candle, the third week of this celebration, is typically rose or pink. The Christ candle is white.
Obviously, there is leeway here. Yes, mine is done with red candles! Fireproof artificial evergreens with four in-place candleholders are fine. Note: use tall tapers, since the early
candles are relighted each week, and will significantly diminish in size as the weeks pass.
Yours at home could be a pinecone wreath, or one made of fresh greens which are replaced several times to assure safety.
Some families use a candelabra with room for five candles, with the Christ candle on the top of the diagonal. In other words, the colors or styles of the wreath are not as important as the meaning your family establishes as a tradition.
The candles represent, hope, faith, love, and peace, plus the Christ candle.
The first week, one candle is lit while the scripture is read, the devotional is shared, and a hymn is sung or played. The second and subsequent weeks, the first candle is lit again, and then the next one until the week before Christmas, all four candles are lit. The Christ candle is lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
Note: There are often several available Scripture texts to use. Or, you may choose to use only parts of a longer passage. The verses are from the International Children’s Bible. You may use a different translation from your family’s Bible if you wish.
WEEK 1
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father. We thank You for sending Jesus to be our Savior. We know Your prophets told us He was coming, and indeed You sent Jesus to us at just the right time and just the right place in Bethlehem. Help us to remember the real meaning of Christmas, that Jesus is the most precious Gift You could have given to us. In His Precious Name. Amen.
THE HOPE CANDLE.
This is what God said about Jesus in the Old Testament prophecy. He would come to us as a servant, to save us from our sins and help us to know God perfectly. Without Jesus, we would be without hope, for all of eternity. Even the humble birth in Bethlehem was part of the prophecy, as was His suffering and dying for our sins. He is the Light of the World, and God’s perfect Gift.
ISAIAH 53[1]
Who would have believed what we heard?
Who saw the Lord’s power in this?
He grew up like a small plant before the Lord.
He was like a root growing in a dry land.
He had no special beauty or form to make us notice him.
There was nothing in his appearance
to make us desire him.
He was hated and rejected by people.
He had much pain and suffering.
People would not even look at him.
He was hated, and we didn’t even notice him.
But he took our suffering on him
and felt our pain for us.
We saw his suffering.
We thought God was punishing him.
But he was wounded for the wrong things we did.
He was crushed for the evil things we did.
The punishment, which made us well, was given to him.
And we are healed because of his wounds.
We all have wandered away like sheep.
Each of us has gone his own way.
But the Lord has put on him the punishment
for all the evil we have done.
He was beaten down and punished.
But he didn’t say a word.
He was like a lamb being led to be killed.
He was quiet, as a sheep is quiet while its wool is being cut.
He never opened his mouth.
Men took him away roughly and unfairly.
He died without children to continue his family.
He was put to death.
He was punished for the sins of my people.
He was buried with wicked men.
He died with the rich.
He had done nothing wrong.
He had never lied.
But it was the Lord who decided
to crush him and make him suffer.
So the Lord made his life a penalty offering.
But he will see his descendants and live a long life.
He will complete the things the Lord wants him to do.
He will suffer many things in his soul.
But then he will see life and be satisfied.
My good servant will make many people right with God.
He carried away their sins.
For this reason, I will make him
a great man among people.
He will share in all things with those who are strong.
He willingly gave his life.
He was treated like a criminal.
But he carried away the sins of many people.
And he asked forgiveness for those who sinned.
ADVENT HYMN
O Come, O Come Emmanuel [2]
“O come, O, come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!
O, come, Our Wisdom from on high,
Who ordered all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
and teach us in her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!
O, come, O, come, our Lord of might,
Who to your tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times gave holy law,
In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!
(continued)
O, come O Rod of Jesse’s stem,
From ev’ry foe deliver them
That trust your mighty pow’r to save;
Bring them in vict’ry through the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!
O, come, O Key of David, come,
And open wide our heav’nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!
O, come, our Dayspring from on high,
And cheer us by your drawing nigh,
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!
CLOSING SCRIPTURE:[3]
Before the world began,
there was the Word.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
All things were made through him
Nothing was made without him.
In him there was life.
That life was light
for the people of the world.
The Light shines in the darkness,
And the darkness
has not over-powered the Light.. .
The Word became a man
and lived among us.
We saw his glory—
the glory that belongs
to the only Son of the Father.
The Word was full of grace and truth…
The law was given through Moses,
but grace and truth came
through Jesus Christ.
No man has ever seen God.
But God the only Son is very close to the Father.
And the Son has shown us what God is like.
CLOSING PRAYER:
THE LORD’S PRAYER[4]
(USE THIS OR THE VERSION YOUR FAMILY USES)
‘Our Father in heaven,
we pray that your name will always be kept holy.
We pray that your kingdom will come.
We pray that what you want will be done,
here on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us the food we need for each day.
Forgive the sins we have done,
just as we have forgiven those who did wrong to us.
And do not cause us to be tested;
but save us from the Evil One.’
[The kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours forever. Amen.]
[1] Isaiah 53. The International Children’s Bible.
[2] www.Lutheran-Hymnal.com/lyrics/lw031.htm Translated: John Neal
[3] John: 1: 1-4, 14, 17-18. International Children’s Bible.
[4] Matthew 6: 9-13. Ibid.
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