Year A, Advent 1, Candle Lighting

Lighting the First Advent Candle

From Psalm 122, Isaiah 2 and Romans 13

Reader 1:  Advent begins with a bidding prayer.  The worshiper is invited to come into God’s house. 

Reader 2:  The psalmist said he was glad to have been invited.  Certainly, once he arrived at the temple, he gave thanks for being able to be there in the place where God’s presence dwelled.  But there is more to his story than simply showing up, being there in body. 

Reader 1:  The prophet Isaiah preached that worship attendance and participating in the rituals would never be enough.  The people learned in the presence of God, and then they were further challenged to “walk in the light of the Lord.”

Reader 2:  Advent is about the coming of Christ.  We prepare to celebrate his first coming as these days lead toward Christmas, and this is our opportunity to be reminded that Christ will come again.

Reader 1:  There is more to the coming of Christ than simply his showing up in bodily form.  We describe the incarnation declaring, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  Because of Jesus, we are held to a higher standard.

Reader 2:  This is a season in which we could wonder, “What does the coming of Christ have to do with us?”  To rearrange the question offers its own challenge, “What do we have to do with the coming of Christ?”  The easy answers are salvation and witness.  We know what Christ has done for us and therefore we respond.

Reader 1:  We “lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light” as the apostle Paul says.  We “walk in the light of the Lord”. 

Reader 2:  Walking in the light of the Lord turns swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. 

Reader 1:  Walking in the light of the Lord makes peace much more than an overused worship theme for one dedicated Sunday of Advent, but the peace of Christ is the redeemed focus in which we live and work. 

Reader 2:  Walking in the light of the Lord is not a passive experience, as if peace could be achieved through inactivity.  Through Christ the weapons of war and darkness have been transformed into valuable tools which must be used in order to make peace.

Reader 1:  Neither hope, peace, joy nor love have any meaning unless God’s people actually work for their reality. 

(Light the first candle in the Advent wreath.)

Reader 2:  Come let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Unison Prayer:  We pray for peace, O God, but as surely was our feet are within your house today, we pray that we would also walk for peace and work for peace.  Help us to live honorably, to seek the good of our neighbor in need, and through Christ, bless us to lay aside darkness and put on light.  We pray in the name of the One who has come to be our Light and our Salvation.  Amen.