Breathe in Hope. The Season of Advent at LFC.
Breathe. One holiday down, we now see reeling towards us and somewhat in our faces already the season of Christmas. Advent, by definition, is an arrival, that is preceded in most implications by a waiting for that arrival to come, so that it becomes more of a pregnant expectancy. The season of traditional Advent in the church is a time to practice an anticipation of our Savior’s birth.
Here at LFC, we invite you to take this time to breathe, to actively participate in the waiting and to pray to be changed as you wait. We pray that it will be a time to welcome the change and joy rising in your hearts as we experience vicariously through words, scripture and meditation the pure miracle of God the Majestic coming, here, to dwell on earth, to soil His feet with the dust of the earth, to see and love His creation, eye to eye, hand to hand. With this anticipation of the day of Messiah’s birth, we approach to light the candle(s) of the advent wreath this Sunday.
Transformation (Week 1)
“Forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! _ Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” Is 43: 18-19
The dry ground thirsts for rain, as hearts, unmoved by joy, thirst for change. She hears You speak, “Do not fear,” and responds, “Let it be.” Oh, that our hearts as well may be open to receive Your seed, the growing change. We cling to Your promise of a Savior, through Mary, a broken vessel, the mother-to-be of Messiah God.
We see the trees through time, the brilliance of springtime buds, the sprouting of leaves and blooms, and the way the leaves turn with the autumn and fall into the hushed silence of winter – the progression of growth and change, and the beauty of a nature that depends so heavily on time.
Yet we hear the jeers, the whispers behind her back, the stares and laughs, as incredulity spreads from the Word becoming flesh in her belly. Despite jeering uncertainty, she pondered these things in her heart, held safely the words of life.
As the leaves turn and hope grows in the body of a woman, we will be changed and enlarged in the waiting as we look towards the celebration of Messiah’s birth.
A cousin rejoices in leaping anticipation from the womb – and we awaken our hearts in hope to see the tabernacle of Your Word in flesh, Emmanuel. In this time of autumn-colored anticipation, we look and wait for Jesus. Come Lord Jesus. To Your Word we cling. Amen.
Waiting (Week 2)
Reader: Psalm 19:1-3 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
God’s Word vaults across the sky trailing the sun in its course, leaping from sleep into awake, from darkness into light. May our eyes see the sun dance across the sky and hear Your Word that spoke its creation and holds it clinging to the fabric of the skies.
Congregation: May our ears be ever in tune to hear Your Word that spoke all of creation into being. May we wait.
Reader: The silent movement of sun to sky, of trees’ dance in wind, of waters lapping on a shore, they speak. Etched-out truth, like words in the sand, written with the finger and a Word from God.
Congregation: We cling to Your Word, God, as we join with creation groaning for You to come.
Reader: As Simeon and Anna pacing the temple courts, we grow old and weary in the waiting. Yet we live in hope for the One for whom we wait.
Congregation: We look ahead to Your promise announced by prophets, the Savior God here on earth, Immanuel.
Reader: We breathe with creation and the prophets in their silent groans awaiting change. We see His glory approaching in wrinkles of baby flesh. Wrapped now in linen cloths, a tiny bundle, the joy for the world arriving as child.
Congregation: We wait. We rejoice, for Christ brings joy and love to our weary world.
Reader: The Christ arrives as Love that knows no bounds, now bound by His love to come dwell with us.
Congregation:
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6
The World Erupts (Week 3)
Congregation: Isaiah 9:2 and 6 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Mighty God.
Reader: A golden throne, angels’ songs, constant bowing from the weight of glory within the temple. This is God. Celebrated in heaven, He is the God of new beginnings, here on this old earth.
Congregation: As Isaiah saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, we behold the Alpha and Omega – You, Lord, today. The train of Your robe fills this temple, with angels bowing, proclaiming, as we do now: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of Your glory.
Reader: But, ah, this old earth groans, moans, for it is wrong, the rhythms turned slightly off-kilter, for sin entered with Adam and the ravages of decay and disease now plague creation. Yet, the created has a sense, intimated from angels, as it groans, that there is a hope, that God holds a plan.
Congregation: We have been waiting, Lord, frustrated with the off-rhythms of the world and the pain it causes. We look to You in hope for that plan which You prepared before we even knew this life.
Reader: And then, a dark night, a cry and a feed trough. God snuck in; the Word that created and sustains arrived on earth, in Bethlehem.
Congregation: This is the One for whom we have waited. As You descend here to earth, Lord, we join with the angels: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth PEACE to all on whom His favor rests!”
Reader: The bated breath, Creation held, ‘til this moment, couldn’t help but be expelled. Upon entrance of God incarnate, creation could no longer be silent. In an eruption of joy, the heavens were unable to contain the excitement at the throne and burst into the song that slit the sky. Creation, once contained, erupts into angel choirs rejoicing, for the glory of God has feet to walk the dry, yearning soil.
Incarnation of Light(Week 4)
Reader: God said, “Let there be light,” there was, and it was good. He breathed words and they became flames of light, sculpted into sun-warmth by the Son of words. And this Creator paints even the canvas of darkness, speckled and splotched with stars, brilliant bursts of flame thousands of miles away.
Congregation: Oh, God of love as never-ending as the light created by Your Word; all-encompassing, the flame of Your love can never be quenched, not by death or hate or betrayal or loneliness.
Reader: The darkness was great that night, offering no shelter for the mother with child and Joseph. Then a cry pierced the night. And creation spoke, in thunderous applause; the angels, the stars exploded to proclaim His coming, to light the way. The little bundle, so unassuming, brought dawn from the night, igniting the stars to tell of His arrival in the arms of His mother.
Congregation: The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. And this Light came to heal the hearts that are hurt and to send His light to reach those lost in the darkest of places.
Reader: To proclaim the everlasting flame of God’s love, the sun in its brilliance awakens joy on the earth as morning dawns. And that night, the holy child’s face lit up the heavens with a dazzling star, reflecting God’s love to a world in need, leading wise men to seek Him. For the Christ child is the Light for the world, encased in flesh.
Congregation: The word, spoken softly to Mary, became the Word alive in her arms that night, proclaiming life and light to all who believe. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. And the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Reader: Upon seeing the star, the Magi were overjoyed. To look in His face, even as a child, was to worship, falling down to give Him their all. This is the Light of the world, chasing away the shrouds of darkness from the recesses of this shadow-warped world.
Congregation: Light-washed babe, Christ the Lord: In you is the light of life. In you is wholly, holy life. In you, tiny babe, Christ is the breath that breathes into all creation. In you, the love that held you to the cross, for us. Jesus, You are the Light we have seen, the light for whom we live, the light by which life – forever and abundant – is sustained.
Jesus, Immanuel (Christmas Eve)
Reader: The infant Christ, eyes still closed, entered the chaos of the world: the plans, the worry, the frantic searching, the broken hearts. He breathed the same breath, had need of the same sustenance, and experienced human suffering firsthand.
Congregation: Born this night is the God of love,
the Prince of Peace,
the Savior of the world.
Reader: Yet, unarmored, He instigated peace. Unadorned, He spoke like royalty. Uneducated, He taught pure truth to men of knowledge. And silently, He came to carry our sorrows on His back.
Congregation: Born this night is the God of love,
the Prince of Peace,
the Savior of the world.
Reader: The small child, born this night, grows to carry majesty in an unattractive package, to cloak glory with rough-hewn outer garments, to portray royalty through a servant’s stature, and to eventually carry love-to-death for us on His back down dusty, forbidden streets. The God of love, the author of creation, made His abode with man, as man – and as Messiah.
Congregation: Born this night is the God of love,
the Prince of Peace,
the Savior of the world.
Reader: The God of the Universe, limited now by time and space in His human frailty, invites us into the unfathomable mystery of His love-to-death and ever-lasting life. Oh Christ of peace, come dwell in our hearts tonight and forever