Advent Candle Liturgy – Maren C. Tirabassi

December 2, 2012

Reader/Singer 1:	
(singing or speaking)
On the first week of Advent
the gift God gave to earth
was the hope of the Bethlehem birth.
(speaking)
The Giver of all gifts gives Hope.

Lighter:	Lights first candle.

Reader 2:	The first gift is hope. God places hope in our hands and our hearts.
		We sing of hope in Advent song and carol. We pray our hope for 
		ourselves, those dear to us, and strangers whom we may never meet. 
When our expectations turn shallow or fill with sadness, doubt, 
or fear, God places a hope-smiler on our paths, who says:

“Have a partridge, have a pear tree – be touched by simple things.”

Reader 3:	(Let us pray) Giver of all gifts, we come to this sacred season with	our hopes for ourselves, for our families and churches, for our world. Thank you for receiving them all – the santa-letter of the seven year old, the personal journal, the petition for justice, the living will – and placing them in the light of Bethlehem. Teach us to offer hope to others as it has been given to us. Amen.
			
The annual Christmas Fund gives pension supplements to active and retired clergy and active and retired lay employees who have been prophets of hope in churches and ministry settings throughout the United Church of Christ.

First Sunday in Advent Unison Prayer Option

(singing or speaking)
On the first week of Advent
the gift God gave to earth
was the hope of the Bethlehem birth.

Giver of all Gifts, your first gift is hope. We thank you for letting us be hopeful people – expecting good tidings for ourselves, for our families and churches, and for our world. As we unwrap the Advent season, now beginning, help us to focus on the promise of Bethlehem, enjoying as simple pleasures the presents, traditions, special food, music and stories, without letting them control our time, spirits or resources. Help us to share your hope with others this week as it has been shared with us.  Amen 
December 9, 2012

Reader/Singer 1:	
(singing or speaking)	
On the second week of Advent
the gift God gave to earth –
was a dove of peace between us
and the hope of the Bethlehem birth.
(speaking)
The Giver of all gifts gives Hope.

Lighter:	Lights first candle.

Hope makes every gift brighter for hope is “present” before we touch the bow or take off the ribbon.

Reader 2:	The Giver of all gifts gives Peace.

Lighter:	Lights second candle.

Reader 2:	The second gift is peace. God composed an angel chorus of “peace on earth” for the shepherds. An echo is the personal serenity we feel at many moments in Advent, but we’re also aware that we are assigned a “peace of the action” to multiply tolerance, gentleness and caring everywhere we go -- from family reconciliation to church or job conflict resolution, and even to global justice. 
	
	The children’s song says we will be given “two turtle doves” but
	we know God always provides a whole flock of understanding.

Reader 3: 	(Let us pray) Giver of all gifts, thank you for the experiences of peace we have in this season. Your peace is not a Christmas card, an early snow fall, children singing in an Alzheimer’s unit, or the satisfaction of dropping an anonymous bill in the Salvation Army kettle, but all those things do renew our commitments for ongoing peacemaking on a larger scale. Teach us to pass peace to others as it has been passed to us. Amen.
Congregation may wish to pass the peace of Christ. 

The annual Christmas Fund gives health supplements that bring peace of mind and spirit to many retired pastors, musicians, sextons and administrators.

Second Sunday in Advent Unison Prayer Option:

(singing or speaking)	
On the second week of Advent
the gift God gave to earth –
was a dove of peace between us
and the hope of the Bethlehem birth.

Giver of all gifts, your second gift is peace, but we need hope in order to open peace up and share it. We thank you for calling us to be peace-makers in everyday December situations like road rage or shopping dysfunction. We have the chance to model reconciliation in family, school, church, workplace, or community. Help us lift up our harmony as long as there is one hungry child, one homeless refugee, one soldier far from home, one lonely patient in a hospital or unvisited inmate in a prison. Someone passed the peace to us and we want to pass it on. Amen
Congregation may wish to pass the peace of Christ. 

December 16, 2012

Reader/Singer 1:
(singing or speaking)
On the third week of Advent
the gift God gave to earth
was joy never-ending,
a dove of peace between us
and the hope of the Bethlehem birth	
(speaking)
The Giver of all gifts gives Hope and Peace.

Lighter:	Lights first and second candle.

Hope is the gift that comes before we believe we are worthy of a present. Peace is the gift that lets us appreciate what we have received.

Reader 2:	The Giver of all gifts gives Joy.

Lighter:	Lights the rose candle.

Reader 2:	The Giver of all gifts gives Joy, and it is no cheap fix. It isn’t Yankee swaps or mistletoe giggling. Joy is deeper. It is available even to those who come to the solstice grieving, fighting a depressive illness, or counting new losses. There were magi who traveled aching miles to find a child. They followed a star from sunset to sunrise for months and months. They risked a king’s anger, yet on they came, bearing gifts which expressed something we call Joy.

The children’s song talks about “three French hens” … when we think about the magi, maybe we can sing it –“three friends’ hands!”		

Reader 3:	(Let us pray) Giver of all gifts, you light our lives with joy like a candle on a Sunday morning and it shines even on a sad solstice. Your joy fills a carol or a Christmas cookie at coffee hour, and we hear and taste it again in our prayers for ourselves and others. Remind us that to re-joice means to find our own joy and share it with someone else. Amen. 

The annual Christmas Fund sends Christmas gift checks that bring joy to retired members of the Pension Fund who are more than one hundred years old.

Third Sunday in Advent Unison Prayer Option:
(singing or speaking)
On the third week of Advent
the gift God gave to earth
was joy never-ending,
a dove of peace between us
and the hope of the Bethlehem birth	

Giver of all gifts, your third gift is joy. We expect it with hope and quiet ourselves to receive it with peace. Joy lights Advent from the inside out so that all come to the manger of your story from their happy weeks or sad days, from their month of renewal or year of grief. Remind us that to re-joice means to find our own joy beyond circumstances and share it with others. Amen.  

December 23, 2012 

Reader/Singer 1:	
	(Singing or speaking)
On the fourth week of Advent
the gift God gave to earth –
was love that’s still-calling,
joy never-ending,
a dove of peace between us
and the hope of the Bethlehem birth.
(speaking)
The Giver of all gifts gives Hope, Peace and Joy.

Lighter:	Lights three previously lit candles, the rose candle last.
	
	Hope is the gift that opens to the outside. 
	Peace is the gift that opens to the inside.
	Joy is the gift that spills over everything.

Reader 2:	The Giver of all gifts gives love. 

Lighter:	Lights the fourth candle, a purple candle.

Reader 2:	The Giver of all gifts gives love, a still-loving love, a love that was born in a stable when there was no room and that was laid in a manger when there was no bed. Mary welcomed the love; Joseph protected the love; angels sang the love; and we have never forgotten the love. 

	On  three-hundred sixty-five days of Christmas we remember 
	there are four calling gospels with good tidings that are all about –love!	 

Reader 3:	Holy Giver, because you love us, you surround us with gifts. We thank you for this holy season and in these last few days before Christmas we ask that everything we do – from baking to wrapping, from caroling for shut-ins to tucking a child in bed, from a genuine smile at a shallow office party to a “green” gift choice or one that doesn’t put us in the “red” – may be different because we are remembering your love for us and our love for one another. 

Both active and retired clergy and lay employees experience love as emergency assistance in time of need from the annual Christmas Fund.

Fourth Sunday in Advent Unison Prayer Option:

(Singing or speaking)
On the fourth week of Advent
the gift God gave to earth –
was love that’s still-calling,
joy never-ending,
a dove of peace between us
and the hope of the Bethlehem birth.

God, you are both the Giver and the Gift. As your star leads to the stable where the story comes true, we call upon you to light our manger-paths. Some are traveling in these next few days. Some are busy with preparations and some are hollow with loss. Some have witnessed only a few Christmases and others have seen many. Because we learned how you first loved us, and we continually experience the Holy Spirit’s love through this church, let all that we do welcome others to the love we have known. Amen.  

December 24, 2012 Evening or December 25, 2012, Morning

Reader/Singer 1:	
	(singing or speaking)
	On Christmas Eve evening … (or On Christmas at sunrise)
the gift God gave to earth,
was an-gels to sing …
magi bearing love, 
shep-herds’ joy,
peace for everyone
and the manger of Bethlehem’s birth!

We gather around our Advent wreath this evening (morning) for a final time. The circle of light will be completed because in its center is the precious gift of the Bethlehem Child.

Lighter(s):	Hope is the first gift. This candle is lit for the prophets’ hopes of long ago for the Messiah’s birth and the daily hopefulness we experience that turns us to the future with courage. (Light candle)
		
Peace is the second gift. Angels sang “Glory to God and Peace of Earth.” Peace makes Christmas real in April or August or October when one small human effort creates harmony in home or community, nation or world. 
(Light candle) 
		
Joy is the third gift. Joy is spilling out all over—in this sanctuary with all these wonderful faces, but also in faces at the local mall and faces of God’s children all around the world. Joy cannot be contained. 
(Light candle) 	
		
Love is the fourth gift. Love binds hope and peace and joy together. Love makes a family tonight (today) of old friends and visitors who’ve traveled as far as modern day magi. Love takes this old story and makes it real in our lives.
(Light candle)
		(Four people may make these statements and light the candles.) 	

Reader 1:	Tonight (today) we light the Christ Candle. Christ is and always has been the Gift. We prefer to be givers. It is harder to open our hands and accept
	this most amazing present and let it change our lives.

Lighter:	Light Christ Candle.

Reader 1:	(Let us pray). On all our days of Christmas the promise we believe is a blessing we all can receive. Giver of all gifts, tonight we open our hearts and minds and spirits to you not for this holy candlelit moment alone but for our lives.  Amen.

Responsive Reading for Advent and Christmas Use  (for churches that do not light an Advent wreath or wish to do the offering in one focus)

Introduction
Leader:	If we tried to divide this congregation into people who will give a gift this month and those who will receive one, we would have a unison prayer in stead of a responsive reading. We do celebrate this holy season of gift-giving, in spite of all the problems of holiday spending. Let us reflect on some of the gifts we have received in our lives and honor the particular ways those gifts are given in churches.

People:		God is the Giver of all our gifts!

Leader:	Reflect for a moment on a Bible story that is precious to you –
		it may be the Bethlehem story or David and Goliath,
		or stilling the storm on the sea.

		Pause

People:		We give thanks for clergy, active and retired, who have shared 
		the stories of our faith.

Leader:	Reflect for a moment on a time in your childhood or youth when an adult mentor made all the difference.

	Pause

People:		We give thanks for Christian educators and youth group leaders.

Leader:	Reflect for a moment on sacred spaces in your life. Is there a sanctuary you remember that held your joy or peace or pain or all three?

	Pause

People:	We give thanks for administrators and sextons, for Conference staff and those who work in the National setting, who are sanctuary-makers.

Leader:	Reflect for a moment on a song that always touches your heart ..
		Silent Night, Mary, did You Know?, Carol of the Bells.

		Pause
:
People:	We give thanks for organists and choir directors, song leaders, praise bands and soloists.

Leader:	On the twelve days of Christmas and the three-hundred, fifty-three other ones, we celebrate the truth that’s God’s gifts have been shared in this congregation and others. 

People:		Giver of all gifts, whose holy season fills our hearts with wonder,
we give thanks for those who share their gifts with us
in the packages of different professions --
			clergy and musicians, chaplains and counselors,
			educators and youth leaders, sextons and administrators,
			those both retired and currently employed.
Bless the offerings we bring that they may, indeed, 
unwrap hope, peace, joy and all our love –
to your faithful ones. Amen.

Collection of the Annual Christmas Fund for the Veterans of the Cross and Emergency Fund gifts should include explanation of the four uses (pension and health supplements, emergency assistance and Christmas Gift checks).

General use litany, for another time of year but reflecting the Twelve Day of Christmas Campaign:

Leader:	As we reflect this morning on our gifts to the “Christmas Fund,” we remind ourselves how the Christmas Gift of God’s presence in our lives is not only unwrapped in December. We keep Christmas all year long. 

People:		We give thanks to the Giver of all gifts and so many givers among us.

Leader:	In the first month of Christmas we give thanks for pastors
		who preach and teach and sit by hospital beds,
		who celebrate weddings and gather us in funerals,
		and who often do these things in blizzards and wind!
 
People:		We give thanks to the Giver of all gifts and these givers among us.

Leader:	In the second month of Christmas we give thanks for youth ministers --
		leading a ski trip, a valentines visit to the nursing home, a
		February mission trip, or sharing a long talk with a bullied teen.

People:		We give thanks to the Giver of all gifts and these givers among us.

Leader:	In the third month of Christmas comes Easter! We celebrate church musicians – from organists to praise bands to choir directors 
who harmonize us for Lenten cantatas and Alleluias.

People:		We give thanks to the Giver of all gifts and these givers among us.

Leader:	In the fourth month of Christmas we are blessed by pastoral counselors who often translate resurrection into emotional unbinding 
and the healing of relationships.		

People:		We give thanks to the Giver of all gifts and these givers among us.

Leader:	In the fifth month of Christmas we stand still to recognize 
how much in our churches is rooted and growing, 
budding and blooming because of Christian educators.

People:		We give thanks to the Giver of all gifts and these givers among us.

Leader:	In the sixth month of Christmas we look around our sacred space 
indoors and outdoors and give thanks for sextons and janitors, 
and how they being the sanitary to the sanctuary.

People:		We give thanks to the Giver of all gifts and these givers among us.

Leader:	In the seventh month of Christmas we celebrate Outdoor Ministry 
and all who camp and hike and climb and bike 
and sleep under the stars for God.

People:		We give thanks to the Giver of all gifts and these givers among us.

Leader:	In the eighth month of Christmas we appreciate the work 
of Conference staff and Transitional Ministers, 
of Mission personnel and those who serve the National Setting 
in so many ways. 

People:		We give thanks to the Giver of all gifts and these givers among us.

Leader:	In the ninth month of Christmas as colleges begin again 
we pause to recognize college chaplains meeting lonely freshmen 
and we remember hospital and prison chaplains 
who also share God’s love with lonely people.

People:	 	We give thanks to the Giver of all gifts and these givers among us.

Leader:	In the tenth month of Christmas – Fair and flu season – 
we honor parish nurses and caregivers 
and those who administrate the details of sacred space.

People:		 We give thanks to the Giver of all gifts and these givers among us.

Leader:	In the eleventh month of Christmas we give thanks 
for those sometime-saints, our retired clergy 
who have given and still give richly of themselves.

People:		We give thanks to the Giver of all gifts and these givers among us.

Leader:	On the twelfth month of Christmas we gather our gifts for all these givers.
		Let us pray:

People:	 Bless, O God, these Christmas Fund gifts that they may express our gratitude to retired and active clergy and lay employees, in so many areas of our church’s life every season of the year. Their caring keeps your presence with us and inspires each one of us to find ways to use our gifts to bless our congregation and our world. Amen

Collection of the Annual Christmas Fund and Emergency Fund gifts should include explanation of the four uses (pension and health supplements, emergency assistance and Christmas Gift checks).

Prayers of Dedication for Christmas Fund Gifts:

(For the Fourth Sunday in Advent)
Giver of all gifts, whose holy season fills our hearts with wonder,
we give thanks for those who share their gifts with us
in the packages of different professions --
	clergy and musicians, chaplains and counselors,
	educators and youth leaders, sextons and administrators,
	those both retired and currently employed.
Bless the offerings we bring that they may, indeed, 
unwrap hope, peace, joy and all our love –
to your faithful ones. Amen.

(For Christmas Eve)
Gracious God, on this holy night in which the good tidings of angels, shepherds and magi fill our hearts, we give you thanks for those who have wrapped up your gifts to us in our own time with their stories, music, caregiving and service in this and other faith communities. We dedicate our offerings of help, hope and healing for them, and, modeling ourselves on their care for your church, pledge our gifts of time and prayer, energy and skills in the ongoing ministries of Emmanuel, God present with us. Amen.

(Sunday after Christmas or first Sunday in January)
Gift-giver God, 
though the after-days of Christmas 
on this we can agree
the tinsel is dragging off the tree!

Now we return, O God, to the long and faithful seasons of congregations and remember before you those who preach and pray, who lead music and stand with youth, who counsel and are chaplains, who administrate our sacred space and care for it. This Christmas Fund is our re-gifting some of their blessings to those who make a difference in our lives through all the precious ordinary days of the year to come.  Amen.