SeeING a DIFFERENT WORLD Partners in Prayer Advent 2017 First Week of Advent: Seeing a Different Hope Gathering: Sing the hymn, Come, O Long-expected Jesus (Chalice Hymnal #125) Or listen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrafqcokjge Light the first candle of an Advent wreath OR the flame of a candle you might have around the house. Say: As we light this candle, God, we sit with hope. We invite the quiet of this moment to clear our mind of any distractions. We invite the way it s always been thinking to leave us. And most of all, we invite new possibilities to fill our imaginations. We want to see the world as you see it, God a world where hope abounds! Think about where you were in life (or as a community) last Advent. Where are you in life this year? Any changes geographically, vocationally, or spiritually? Have your feet landed on any hard places? Anne Lamott has said: Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don t give up. What does stubborn hope look like for you? How do you deal with discouragement when your view looks dim? How do you posture your life to live out hope when others around you say to just give up? A Deeper Look: Read Luke 2:25-38 ELIZABETH HAGAN Who do you identify with most in this story? Why? What about this story encourages you to hope? Simeon and Anna teach us much about the stubborn hope of waiting. Like them, we can have strong faith and not see it come to fruition for many years. Our life s work can be consumed in waiting. Waiting with hope can be faithful living! Closing Prayer: God, you re always extending to us the offer of hope. Though challenges may show up, you ask us to lift up our eyes to the hills from which our help comes. Your encouragement is always on the way. With your hope planted deep in our hearts, we know we can wait for your view to come into focus. AMEN
Second Week of Advent: Seeing a Different Peace Gathering: Sing the hymn, Precious Lord, Take My Hand (Chalice Hymnal #628) Or listen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnc6oh9gfow Light the first and second candle of an Advent wreath OR the flame of a single candle if you don t have an Advent wreath. Say: As we light this candle, God, we sit with peace. Not as peace as the world gives peace that is here today and gone tomorrow. But your everlasting and never-ending peace. Peace that fills us up and sustains us for the long nights. Peace that you bring and invite us to share with the world. AMEN An absence of peace can often show up as fear. Maybe it s why first words of the angels to the shepherds were Fear not. But God longs to meet us in the most heartbreaking situations of our lives and turn our fear to peace. What makes you feel the most afraid right now? How are you praying for peace this Advent season? Marcus Borg has said: God s dream for us is not simply peace of mind, but peace on earth. He points to an invitation we all have: to be peace workers. What ministry of peace or reconciliation do you feel called to participate in (or are participating in now)? How have you seen God bring peace to devastating situations? A Deeper Look: Read Luke 1:67-79 Zechariah s song is not one we often read in church, but has lots to teach us about what peace embodied looks like. Consider what it was like for Zechariah to make the countercultural choice to name his son John (when tradition would have dictated they called him Zechariah). Consider reading all of chapter 1 to get the full context of his struggles, fears, and then his eventual peace? How have you seen God open up for you a path of peace in unexpected circumstances too? Bonus: Read the responsive liturgy about Zechariah as a group in the Chalice Hymnal #137 Closing Prayer: God, take our hands and lead us on. Help us stand. Take us this week to the places where people are afraid, lost, lonely, or forgotten. Help us to be bearers of what only you can bring: peace on earth. AMEN
Third Week of Advent: Seeing a Different Joy Gathering: Sing the hymn, O Come, O Come Emmanuel (Chalice Hymnal #119) Or listen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xtpj4q_q-4 Light the first, second, and third candle of an Advent wreath OR one candle if you don t have an Advent wreath. Say: As we light this candle, we invite your joy into our lives. It s so easy, God, to connect joy to our circumstances alone. To think that what we see is all there is. But you invite us to see joy differently. Your joy can ground us even when everything in our lives feels out of balance. Your joy can give us the ability to share lavishly. AMEN During Advent, we talk a lot about the positive virtues of slowing down and waiting. Instead of hurrying up to get to Christmas, the traditions of our faith invite us to pause and move forward with intention. Yet, for many of us, we overplay the waiting game. For we re waiting on perfection. We ve lost our joy because we ve defined joy by a set of perfect circumstances and until then, we ve accepted our unhappiness. Henri J.M. Nouwen has said: Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing joy every day. Can you think of a time in your life when you chose joy even when the details surrounding your life might have called for deep despair? How did you arrive at this place? How were you able to share joy with others as result of the shift in perspective? A Deeper Look: Read Luke 1:39-56 Though we often associate the word blessed with Mary there are a thousand different reasons why she could have felt unfavored. She was an unmarried, teenage mother-to-be with a crazy story of how the Holy Spirit impregnated her. Yet, in her circumstances, Mary chose a path of joy for her life even with the unanswered questions. Read verses 46-56 again slowly and aloud. What do you notice about the substance of Mary s joy? Why does she praise God? Where do you think the roots of Mary s joy come from? Closing Prayer: God, help us to choose to praise you both when times are good and when they re not. When life feels confusing, open our eyes. When life feels unfair, open our ears. When life s tragedies leave us breathless, open our hands to receive your joy. AMEN
Fourth Week of Advent: Seeing a Different Love Gathering: Sing the hymn, Love Divine, All Loves Excelling (Chalice Hymnal #517) Or watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpsxqqsnzja Light the first, second, third, and fourth candle of an Advent wreath OR a single candle if you don t have an Advent wreath. Say: As we light this candle, we do so with love. We abide in love. We move in love. We rejoice in love. God, you are with us now. You ve always been with us. Thank you for loving us before we knew how to love ourselves. Thank you teaching us to love one another. For you are love come to be with us! AMEN By time we get to this close to Christmas, it s easy to feel overwhelmed in the details. We have so much to do and so little time! Yet the invitation of love invites us to turn our focus elsewhere. Love asks us questions, such as, who is being forgotten? Who needs to be seen? Where is God asking me to put aside what I want so that someone else can be encouraged? Barbara Brown Taylor has said: New life starts in the dark. Whether it is a seed in the ground, a baby in the womb, or Jesus in the tomb, it starts in the dark. Or in other words, love s invitation looks outside of the packages and bows, of what we re having for Christmas dinner or our busy travel schedules. God invites us to see the unseen. How might God be inviting you to see new parts of your story, your community, or your church that feel insignificant or tucked away? A Deeper Look: Read 1 Corinthians 13 These words of Paul are often read at weddings, aren t they? So many of us practically have them memorized out of repetition. But what might the description of love as patient and kind offer our preparations for Christmas? Why do you think Paul writes about love never failing? How have you seen love s boundless strength break through the most impossible of situations? Closing Prayer: God with Us, you love us more than we could ever comprehend. Thank you for loving us even when we make such messes of our preparations. Thank you for loving us even when we ignore the concerns of our neighbor. Thank for loving us when we don t know how to love ourselves. Thank you for being Love in the flesh soon born to us! AMEN
Christmas Day Light a Christ Candle Gathering Read the litany aloud. If in a group, select a worship leader to read the part of One. One: Today we shout Alleluia! Christ is born. Many: Let heaven and nature sing! One: Today we say amen! For Christ is here with us. Many: Repeat the sounding joy! One: Today we offer many thanks to God. For love is in our midst! Many: Let earth receive her King! One: Today we overflow in gratitude. For we see how much God loves us. Many: Joy to the world! The Lord is come! Sing the carol Joy to the World the Lord is Come! Reflect While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. Luke 2:6 Jesus was born when the time came. It was as simple as that. Nothing could stop God s plans from being in motion. Today, let us pause to remember God s timing, remembering that it s completely countercultural to what is going on in the streets and malls that have already pronounced Christmas over and put out Valentine decorations yesterday. By contrast in the Christian faith, we stay close to every moment. For what we see in front of us is never the full story. The busyness of our lives that makes our days complicated (maybe this is your home today) is not how God views our situations. Christmas shows us that God can usher in beauty when we least expect it! When the time comes all will be well. How have you objected to God s timing in your life? As you look toward 2018, how are you praying for the time to come? In your family, your church, or your community? Closing Prayer: God, we celebrate your goodness today and all that you ve shown us through the life of Jesus. But in our celebration, may we not get too ahead of your pace in our lives. May we cherish your good timing, though we may not understand it. AMEN