The Holiday Season is going to look and feel different this year. Perhaps in the midst of a pandemic, we will feel the need for Advent–a time of waiting and looking earnestly for light to break into the world–more than ever. During this season, we remember God’s entry into our world as a vulnerable, powerless child, and we practice our belief that Christ will come again by watching for traces of God’s just and peaceful kingdom emerging all around us. On this page, we have compiled some resources for nurturing spirituality at home.
2020 Advent Worship
Join us every Sunday at 10am here for our weekly worship! Alongside our annual pageant and a special dancing Magnificat, we are glad to welcome our former Associate Pastor, Rev. Jed Koball to the virtual LAC pulpit this month.
| November 29th | 1st Sunday of Advent | Rev. Koball preaching, Advent Workshop |
| December 6th | 2nd Sunday of Advent | Rev. Koball Preaching, Communion |
| December 13th | 3rd Sunday of Advent | Dancing Magnificat |
| December 20th | 4th Sunday of Advent | Pageant and Carols! |
| December 24th | Christmas Eve | Rev. Koball preaching |
Advent Wreaths
While we normally dedicate time at our annual Advent Workshop to creating Advent Wreaths, this year, we invite you to get creative with the supplies you have at home for DIY wreaths! Patty Towle has created a DIY Guide–Download a copy here. If you would like a wreath form or candles to jump-start your creative process, please contact Ekama to schedule a time to retrieve supplies from LAC. We look forward to featuring your creativity in our worship services leading up to Christmas! Please snap a photo and send it to the office.
Virtual Advent Workshop
We will host LAC’s beloved Advent Workshop via Zoom this year! All are invited to join us on Sunday, November 29th at 3:30 p.m. for an afternoon of fellowship! The workshop will include a DIY wreath show-and-tell, reading an advent story aloud, a cookie decorating workshop led by Samantha Udondem, as well as a break out room for those who might prefer socializing with one another over crafting. We are preparing kits including advent candles, DIY wreath instructions, this year’s Chrismon, cookies and decorating materials, advent activities, as well as this year’s advent liturgy. The kits will be available for pick up from LAC (or can be delivered to directly to your home) and will be tailored for families with young children, or for folks of all ages who are young at heart! All are invited to join in virtual fellowship and carry on this great LAC tradition! Please use this link to register for the workshop: https://bit.ly/36DinD6
Liturgy for Lighting Advent Candles at Home
FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Speaker 1: Lighting a candle in the darkness helps us find our way. In darkness we lose direction. We cannot see where we have been or where we are going. A single candle, flickering brightly, helps us find our way again.
Speaker 2: “Stir up your might, and come to save us. Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved” (Psalm 80:2b‑3).
The first candle is lit.
Speaker 3: On this first Sunday in Advent, oh Lord, let this light shine brightly as the days grow shorter, so that we will be ready for your face to shine upon us at Christmas. In the Savior’s name we pray. Amen.
SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Speaker 1: Fire burns; it can destroy. Fire also gives warmth and light. The coming of Christ is both a day of judgment and a day of promise. Two candles, flickering brightly, help us remember that the coming of Christ has many meanings.
Speaker 2: “Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky” (Psalm 85:10–11).
The first two candles are lit.
Speaker 3: In Advent’s light, help us to see what is important, oh Lord. to be who you want us to be, and to do what you would have us do. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Speaker 1: The light glowing from our Advent wreath is burning brighter. This radiance warms our hearts and fills us with joy! The Lord has done great things for us. Let us rejoice.
Speaker 2: “May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves” (Psalm 126:5–6).
The first three candles are lit.
Speaker 3: Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.
We carry many burdens and worry over many things, oh Lord. Help us to hear your promise in this Advent season, that in hearing, we may receive the Spirit’s gift of joy. And may our spirits be kept sound at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT
Speaker 1: Once God’s plan was a mystery, hidden from our sight. Now God has disclosed what was kept secret for so very long; he has brought it out in the light. In the brighter light on this fourth Sunday in Advent, may we see more clearly the glory of God in Christ and sing of the steadfast love of the Lord forever.
Speaker 2: “With my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations. I declare that your steadfast love is established forever; your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens” (Psalm 89:1b‑2).
All four Advent candles are lit.
Speaker 3: I declare that your steadfast love is established forever; your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens. Your faithfulness has been great, or Lord, leading us to this day of anticipation and celebration. May the glorious light of your steadfast love shine brightly in us and through us, that all may give you praise and glory. In the Savior’s name we pray. Amen.
CHRISTMAS EVE OR CHRISTMAS DAY
The four Advent candles are lit first.
Speaker 1: The season for watching and waiting is over. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. This is the light of the world, and the darkness cannot extinguish it.
The Christ candle is lit.
Speaker 2: “O sing to the Lord a new song;
Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Tell of his salvation from day to day.
“Declare his glory among the nations,
His marvelous works among all the peoples” (Psalm 96:1–3).
Speaker 3: “Say among the nations, ‘The Lord is King!’
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
And the peoples with his truth” (Psalm 96:10a, 11a, 13b).