Advent 2020: Week 1- HOPE

For a few years, I have been wanting to host a weekly gathering during the advent season, but I've always come up with some excuse not to: I have roommates... I'm directing a holiday musical... the season just snuck up on me... and so on. Since 2020 is quite possibly the worst year in history for in-person gatherings, it would have been easy to come up with another good excuse not to try it this year. But this has also been the year where Advent, this season of waiting for God to show up in the flesh, feels most vital. And if 2020 has taught me anything, it's that I can handle an online gathering... 

So I'm trying something new this year.  Each Sunday at 7pm  during this Advent season, I'll be sharing a little liturgy for advent: a few prayers, poems, and readings live on my Instagram page (@thesarahrock), as well as sharing everything here on this trusty, 'ol blog. I'll also post a link here to a weekly Spotify playlist themed because you know I love a seasonal playlist..

Here's this week's playlist:

Advent Week 1: HOPE

And here's the liturgy for tonight... read it at home with your family, or tune in to my instagram at 7 to read with me!

December Rainbow 

(by me)

In the cold of winter all seems dim

as the light fades early

before the dinner bell rings

 

Yet in this waning light a spark of hope ignites

followed soon by peace, joy and love

kindled in the cozy calm of these silent nights

 

Like an infant nursing at his mother’s breast

in the last light of the December dusk

or the solitary flicker of the season’s first candle 

wavering in a drafty chapel

Hope seems tiny, fragile, too frail for the advancing cold

 

But then, one bright ray emerges

pushing through the dark chill of an overcast morn.

Suddenly light bursts forth through winter rain.

Though the storm still churns overhead

brilliance rises with the sun below.

 

And I catch my breath.

In awe of the colors dawning before me.

Aglow again with the magnificent promise of Hope.

Lighting of the Advent Candle

Creator God,

Gather with us on this holy night

As we come together in unconventional spaces

To begin the Advent season,

a time of anticipation and waiting

at the end of a year that has already stretched our patience to its brink

Reveal to us tonight the hope represented by this candle

The promise of heaven born to a dying earth.

The healing hope of Jesus 

Light of the world.

Psalm 130: 5-8

5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

    and in his word I hope;

6 my soul waits for the Lord

    more than watchmen for the morning,

    more than watchmen for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in the Lord!

    For with the Lord there is steadfast love,

    and with him is plentiful redemption.

8 And he will redeem Israel

    from all his iniquities.

Luke 1:39-56

Mary Visits Elizabeth

39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be[a] a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Mary's Song of Praise: The Magnificat

46 And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

    For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

    and holy is his name.

50 And his mercy is for those who fear him

    from generation to generation.

51 He has shown strength with his arm;

    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones

    and exalted those of humble estate;

53 he has filled the hungry with good things,

    and the rich he has sent away empty.

54 He has helped his servant Israel,

    in remembrance of his mercy,

55 as he spoke to our fathers,

    to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

Reading: 

"Waiting for God" by Henri Nouwen

Closing Prayer:

God of Hope

Renew us in this season of waiting

As we lift our eyes in expectation, 

Our hearts in adoration,

Or perhaps our hands in frustration

Reveal to us this week the promise of new life

Born in a tiny baby 

Carried by a teenage mother

Who chose community in her season of waiting

And believed the voice of the angel 

Saying do not fear

Like Mary, we will wait without worry

Choosing to hope in the promise of abundant life

not by way of Empire, or consumerism 

but through the counter-cultural Kingdom of Jesus Christ

Emmanuel

God with us.