Seeds of Prayer: Extended Advent Candle Liturgy (with two additional/optional candles

Please Share/Adapt with Credit to Katy Stenta and Please contribute to my Doctorate of Ministry with a Donation. I have PayPal https://paypal.me/KatyStenta?locale.x=en_US Venmo www.venmo.com/Katy-Stenta or Google Pay to Katyandtheword at gmail

About Me: My Story & My Writing

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Promise, Thanksgiving, Hope, Peace, Joy, Love, Christ

Nov 22, 2020 Promise Candle: 

Lord God we give thanks for your covenant

We are thankful that you promise to come again

Just as God freed the Hebrews from Egypt

We remember how faithful God was to Abraham and Sarah, 

Moses and Miriam, and Hannah and Eli

Come let us know God, through God’s promises

We live into your promises, Loving God

Light the Promise Candle

God, we are thankful that every year

You fulfill your promise and become particularly present

every Sunday, every prayer, every gathering in your name,

You are there. You show your love in baptism and communion,

and you reveal your presence through advent and Christmas.

Help us to live into your promises,

every time we wait for Jesus,

we pray. Amen.

Optional Hymns: Great is Thy Faithfulness, Be Thou My Vision, God of the Sparrow, God of the Ages, Whose Almighty Hand, Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise

Nov 29, 2020 Thanksgiving Candle:

Lord we give thanks for your protection and gifts

Glory to be to God, who has filled the world with enough for everyone

When we are in trouble, we have God to pray to

God help us to trust in God

Let us proclaim the good news, God is abundant and gracious

We live into thanksgiving, Loving God

Light the Promise Candle

God,

As we look at all the bounties of the earth,

teach us how to give the sacrifice of praise.

For you have created us this way

so that the more we give thanks

the better human beings we are.

Help us to live into Thanksgiving,

every time we wait for Jesus,

we pray. Amen. 

Optional Hymns: For the Fruit of All Creation, Let All Things Now Living, We Gather Together, Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow

Dec 6, 2020 Hope Candle: (based on Joel 2)

Lord, even now you are calling to us

You promise the trumpet will sound, all wrongs will be right!

We will call the assembly in hope, one way or another we will connect and gather together

We are the congregation: the aged, the children, the infants. We are the people of God

God says, fear not, for I will fill you with my spirit. Live into Hope.

We live into hope, loving God.

Light the Hope Candle

Prayer: Lord, 

in the midst of suffering

and death, remind us 

that love is worth

the cost of hope. 

Teach us to 

enact the world

we hope for we pray.

Help us to live into Hope

every time we wait for Jesus, 

we pray. Amen. 

Optional Hymns: Sing O Come, O Come, Emmanuel v. 1, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence v. 1, Live Into Hope, 

Peace Candle: Peace: (based on Isaiah 61:1-4)

Lord, here is the hope!  You have sent us to proclaim the good news to the oppressed, 

We are all called to to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives 

Let us proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. 

You comfort all who mourn, and give us the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. 

You promise to repair the ruins! Live into peace.

We live into Peace, Loving God!

Light the Peace Candle

Prayer: Jesus

as we see fighting

and lies and hatred.

Show us peace, 

not as a passive thing

but as the power to 

acknowledge each and

every creature’s mutual worth

Help us to live into Peace 

every time we wait for Jesus,

we pray. Amen

Optional Hymns: Sing O Come, O Come, Emmanuel v. 3, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence v. 3 Comfort, Comfort You My People or A Place at the Table, Blest Be the Tie That Binds

Dec 13, 2020 Joy Candle: (based on Luke 1:46-56 which is opt for next week)

Lord God this is the time to magnify the Lord

My spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant

We are called to see how God has brought down the powerful from their thrones

We need to look and acknowledge and proclaim with joy that it is God who lifts up the lowly

God’s promises are forever! This is the day that the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!
We live into Joy, Loving God. 

Prayer: Holy Spirit,

as we feel the stirrings of Joy

that Jesus Christ is a part of our lives.

Remind us that Jesus

came to help all people

from generation to generation.

Help us to share the Joy it is

to fill every sing person who hungers

with good things. 

Help us to live into Joy 

every time we wait for Jesus,

we pray. Amen.

Optional Hymns: O Come, O Come Emmanuel v. 2, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence v. 2, Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain

Dec 20, 2020 Love Candle: 

God, we sing glory to God in the highest, for you embody love

You take on human flesh, out of love for us

Truly, who embodies love like Jesus?

He has come to teach and to pray, to heal and to disciple, to live and to breathe with us.

Born in a manger, full of hope, peace and joy, that is our Savior, Jesus Christ.

We Live into Love, Loving God

God of Bounty,

We know that you are synonymous with love

To speak of God is to speak of love, 

and to speak of love is to speak of God.

Teach us what love really is: 

Embodying hope and peace and joy all at once. 

Help us to live into Love 

every time we wait for Jesus, 

we pray Amen. 

Optional Hymns: O Come, O Come Emmanuel v. 1 Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent v. 3 and/or 4, They will Know we are Christians by Our Love

Dec 24/25, 2020 Christ Candle: 

Let our Soul magnify the Lord

We rejoice in God our savior

God is with us, from generation to generation

Look at what the Mighty One has done for us

God fills the hungry with good things, brings up the lowly, and brings done the powerful

We live into the discipleship of Jesus Christ, Loving God

Light the Christ Candle

Prayer:

Lord God, we know that Jesus is born

Born of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love,

Christ is coming, 

Touch us with your presence we pray.

Help us to live into discipleship

and to see Jesus,

we pray Amen. 

Optional Hymns: What Child is This?, The First Nowell, Infant Holy, Infant Lowly

About Me: My Story & My Writing

Please Share/Adapt with Credit to Katy Stenta and Please contribute to my Doctorate of Ministry with a Donation  I have PayPal https://paypal.me/KatyStenta?locale.x=en_US Venmo www.venmo.com/Katy-Stenta or Google Pay to Katyandtheword at gmail