Category: Advent

Lighting the Christ candle, 2022

by Steve Harsh, posted in Advent, Christmas

On this holy, silent night we pause from all the other activities of this busy season to give thanks that the waiting and hoping for God’s joy and love will this night be fulfilled. We have marked each of the four weeks of Advent by lighting a candle to bring a little more light to the darkness of our broken world.

But this night is special. Tonight, when December days are the shortest of the year, we gather to celebrate the light of the world that will never be overcome by darkness. We know that the sun will shine longer tomorrow and each day to come, and we know that God’s Son will shine brighter because we will carry the light of his glory in our hearts as we return to our daily lives.

The candles of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love have lighted our Advent journey. They stand in a circular wreath that, like God’s love, has no beginning and no end. But on this Holy night we light the tallest and brightest candle, the Christ candle, to celebrate the wonderful birth of our Savior and Messiah.

[Light the Christ Candle]

The Christ Candle is not like those we put on our birthday cakes. We do not blow this candle out. Instead from it we will light our own candles to symbolize the light of the world that glows in the hearts of all who follow Jesus.

Pray with me please: O most High and Holy One, on this night come once more to your lowliest birth in a barn. Come again to a world where there is too often no room for you in our busy lives. We know the Christmas story so well it is hard to hear it with fresh ears. Break through our traditions this time, Lord. Scare us out of our routine expectations for this night, just as you startled those poor shepherds outside Bethlehem so long ago. Blow us away with visions of angels that inspire us to run to Bethlehem to see what’s going on. Open our hearts to believe that this is not just any other night. Give us eyes to see that this is not just another Christmas like all the others. For this very night in 2022 a Savior is born again wherever meek souls will receive him. Come, Lord Jesus, come; we pray in your Holy name, Amen

Fourth Advent Candle 2022: Love

by Steve Harsh, posted in Advent

During this Advent season of waiting, we have reflected on the gifts of Hope, Peace, and Joy.  Today we can sum things up by paraphrasing the words of St. Paul in I Corinthians:  Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love, abide these four, but the greatest of these is Love.  

Without the radical love of Jesus for the least lovable among us and yes, even for our enemies, there is no hope for peace and joy in our hearts or in our world.  Without love for God and God’s way of being in the world we are doomed to keep waiting for the blessed community to appear out of thin air.  Love is a verb, it is a call to action to treat everyone else as we want to be treated; but it is also a call to love ourselves as God’s redeemed and beloved children.  Without love for ourselves we have no love to share with our neighbors.  

Love for ourselves and for others is the whole point of Christmas.  God so loved the world, all of it and all of us, that God came to show us that love in the form of a helpless infant. Without the loving care of his young mother, of a kind innkeeper, and the trust Joseph had in God’s messengers baby Jesus would not have survived infancy.

Today we celebrate the greatest gift of Love ever given–the perfect love that alone can cast out fear.  And with grateful hearts we light the candle of Love.

[Light 4th Candle]

Pray with me please: O Holy and loving God, with grateful hearts we give you thanks that faithful and patient waiting for you is always rewarded.  Your promises are trustworthy and true.  In these final busy days of Advent help us keep our eye on the prize and the only reason for this season.  We are always amazed and challenged by the depth of your unconditional love for us.  Prepare our hearts and minds this week to humbly receive the amazing love you have for us.  Let us not take that gift for granted, but may we reflect your love for the world in all we say and do in this special week leading up Jesus’ holy birth.  In his Holy name we pray.  Amen

Northwest United Methodist Church, December 18, 2022

2022 Advent Peace Candle

by Steve Harsh, posted in Advent, prayer

3000 years ago the prophet Isaiah shared his vision of lions lying down with lambs, and humans beating their swords into plowshares and not learning war any more.

And we’re still waiting.

2000 years ago John the Baptist was a voice crying in the wilderness, and the angels over Bethlehem delivered the birth announcement of a baby who would bring peace on earth.

And we’re still waiting.

Sometimes it feels so foolish to light a peace candle every Advent. Bombs are still dropping on Ukraine and young Americans are still dying from senseless gun violence.

And we are still waiting.

But we who know Jesus continue to believe. We know Jesus can calm a raging sea by simply saying, “Peace be still.” We know he can calm our fearful hearts when we think we can’t go on. We know Jesus showed us how to conquer fear by the way he died non-violently and rose again victoriously. Because we have known his peace in our hearts we are able to wait as long as it takes. And while we wait we light the candle of peace to renew our allegiance to Jesus, the Prince of Peace

[Light 2nd Candle]

Let us pray: Holy God of all people and all of creation, touch our troubled hearts with your Spirit of holy peace. Remind us again that we are not called to passively wait for peace to miraculously appear. Human nature is too flawed for that to happen. We are not called to be peacekeepers who want only a lack of conflict and preservation of the status quo. Instead you call us to be peacemakers, co-creators of a just and loving world order. Show us the way, heavenly parent, to make peace wherever you have planted us. Whether we are refereeing a squabble between our children or solving a complicated situation at school or work, let the peaceful ways of Jesus be our guide. Help us let go of things we cannot change so we can be your agents of peace in places where we can make a difference. May we act as we pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen

Advent Candle Liturgy, Hope, 2022

by Steve Harsh, posted in Advent, hope

As we begin this season of Advent with the candle of hope we affirm our trust in these Beatitudes for the hopeful:

Blessed are those who wait silently with the hopeless.

Blessed are the patient who model peace for all around them.

Blessed are those who are ridiculed for their unrealistic optimism.

Blessed are those who simply light up the space they inhabit.

Blessed are those surrounded by the deep darkness of grief.  They will be comforted.  

Blessed are those who shine through a faith undimmed by human tears.

Blessed are those who face the truth of human evil but will not give up the dream of God’s peaceable kingdom.

Blessed are those who can sit peacefully in the darkness and wait for the dawn.

Blessed are the wise ones who have walked in deep darkness but also know the joy of emerging into the light.  

Blessed are the hopeful, for they are brave enough to be light for a world drowning in darkness.

Please pray with me as we again light the candle of hope.

O Holy One, we pray today that we may not be distracted by the personal and cultural chaos around us.  Help us pay attention to what is true and just.  Even as one way of being in the world is ending, help us to cling to our hope, not for a return to the way things were pre-Covid or pre-Ukraine, but to a new world emerging from the ashes of the old.  Speak to us again the truth that endurance through dark times produces character and hope that allows us to never be weary in doing what is right.  Send your Holy Spirit upon us today that we can be a community of faith that disrupts the broken world with hopefulness.  Make us a community of  hope where we resuscitate each other when our faith is running low.  Remind us that we are called to be a movement of hope, even as institutions, denominations, and individual leaders come and go.  Give us hope to wait upon you when we are weary, to rest but not give up.  Please, Holy God, renew our strength and raise us up on eagles’ wings to be a resurrected and dynamic movement that draws us and others ever closer to the way, truth, and life as followers of Jesus.  Amen

Northwest UMC, Columbus, OH, November 27, 2022

Thanksgiving/Advent Prayer

by Steve Harsh, posted in Advent, prayer

O merciful God, as we worship on this pivotal day between Thanksgiving and Advent give us faith to wrestle with the hard truth that so much of our American pursuit of happiness is based on one of the seven deadly sins, namely greed.  Nowhere is that tension between Jesus’ values and our culture’s more obvious than this time of year where we devote just one day to celebrating gratitude for what we have in the midst of the biggest season of consumerism that begins earlier every year. .

Jesus said it as plainly and clearly as possible in the Sermon on the Mount. “You can’t serve God and money.” It’s a simple either/or, and yet we are still trying our best to prove Jesus wrong.

Choices about our basic human and cultural values are hard because they are so important, and in this case Jesus is a prohibitive underdog. He is up against a multibillion dollar advertising industry telling us 24/7 that we are what we wear, drive, live in, and how we look. Our consumer goods are made to be obsolete sooner rather than later so we will fill the landfills with last year’s gadgets. 

The choice between your way, Holy God, and humanity’s foolish pursuits is what Joshua addressed the Hebrew people about centuries ago on their long journey to the Promised Land. When they were tempted to worship other gods Joshua said, “If  serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” 

Gracious Lord, I confess, I love my Apple gadgets and the new car I bought a year ago as much as anyone else. And yes, I know my iPhone and Apple Watch were made by abused Chinese workers. And yes, I also know I am called to be the keeper of those very sisters and brothers who made these devices I take for granted every day. It pains me to be reminded of that injustice, but so far not enough to do anything about it.

Ever-loving One, we do know that greed has been the root cause of most of the injustices in human history. Every economic, government, or religious system that perpetuates the power of the haves over the have nots has greed for wealth, power, or control at its core.

O God, with heavy hearts we confess our own complicity in systemic greed because we know the first step to addressing any injustice is to admit we are part of the problem.

And so as we move from this Thanksgiving holiday into the season of Advent, our hope and prayer today is that the gratitude of Thanksgiving will inform everything we do this Advent season. And as we light each Advent candle may we remember to not let the true light of the world be hidden under a bushel. It’s time for love and hope to stand up to the forces of greed, to make this the year we don’t ask for everything we want, but give thanks for everything we have.  And so we humbly pray in Jesus’ name, saying together the words he taught us to pray…

Northwest UMC, Columbus, OH, November 27, 2022

Advent 3rd Sunday: Joy

by Steve Harsh, posted in Advent, Faith and Values, prayer

As we get closer and closer to Christmas we can feel joy spreading like a wildfire from the candles of hope and peace.  This joy is not the fleeting satisfaction we call happiness.  Joy is not a pious catch phrase, but an eternal flame that cannot be snuffed out by the cares of a weary world.

These candles here will not burn forever, but true joy that lives in our souls endures eternally. It survives flood, famine, pandemic, and unbearable sorrow.  When our bodies are too tired to carry on, the songs of joy still ring in our hearts.  

Today we light this candle of joy because the Christmas story reminds us that Emmanuel means God is with us always and everywhere.  [Light candle]

And so we pray: O come Emmanuel and ransom our weary world held captive by fear. When we are calm in the midst of chaos it is because your eternal joy is in us. We dare to be joyful because the tiny babe of Bethlehem has shown us victory over all the things that frighten us. No matter how many variants the forces of evil change themselves into; we know that you, almighty God, can transform our suffering into joyful praise. You have taught us that no matter how long our mourning in darkness may last, joy will come with the dawning of a fresh new day filled with hope, peace and love. And so today we offer you our songs of praise for the one who is Joy to the World. Amen

Second Advent Candle: Peace

by Steve Harsh, posted in Advent, Christian Discipleship

John, the wild forerunner of the Messiah calls us out of our comfortable sanctuaries and living rooms into the wilderness of our weary world. Our mission is to level the playing field where our poor sisters and brothers struggle to survive. We are called to be peacemakers who do justice, not peacekeepers who protect the status quo.

John foresees the birth of a new day when the first will be last and the last first.  He calls us to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, even when  we are the latter.  And we are invited to be the bearers of that good news, welcoming Christ to transform our lives; so we can build peace from the inside out and be prepared whenever the Messiah returns. 

In that hope we light this second Advent candle, the Candle of Peace.  [Light Candle]

Let us pray: Holy God, We light the candle of peace to say, yes, we accept your invitation to be bearers of light into the dark places where there is no justice and no peace. We do so with grateful hearts for the example of Christ who came to dwell among us to show us the true way to a world of inner and outer peace for all creation. We will proclaim your peace from the housetops and our laptops until all flesh shall see your salvation as a new day dawns to usher in the peaceable reign of your universal love and grace. We pray in the name of the Prince of Peace, Amen.

First Sunday in Advent

by Steve Harsh, posted in Advent

The first Sunday of Advent comes before the Thanksgiving leftovers are consumed to remind us again of the cares of a weary world. Most of us are more stuffed than our turkeys, and yet we know millions of our sisters and brothers have nothing to be thankful for. We are moved by that suffering and do our best to share out of our abundance; but we wonder if it will ever be enough.

As we prepare our hearts to receive the Christ child this Advent, let us rely on the Scriptures to renew our faith: Words that say, “Comfort, comfort my people” to God’s children in exile. Words that say, “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Lighting one little candle seems so futile to our weary minds, but we dare to light it again this Advent, not because of the tiny light it gives off, but because of the hope it ignites in our hearts. We dare to be hopeful in a weary world because of a helpless peasant baby who emerges from the darkness of Mary’s womb to become the light of the world.

We know that the world’s cares and woes will pass away, but God’s word of hope will never die. And so today we stand up and raise our arms to light the candle of hope because we know that only in the strength of Christ can we survive these trying times and stand before God as redeemed people of hope. [lights candle]

And so we pray, Holy God, we come humbly to this season of preparation, not asking for the rest of the wealthy and privileged, but rest for our weary souls. We are are distressed and confused by cosmic warning signs of climate change. We are worn out from years of pandemic and paralyzed by partisan political warfare.

We are exhausted from playing the consumption game of our consumer Christmas culture, and frustrated by supply chain issues we can’t comprehend or control. We fall on our knees, O God, for we know that only the humble can hear the angel voices. Hear our prayers, we ask, during these dark December days that lead to great joy to the world. Amen

Alive

by Steve Harsh, posted in Advent

There is a tradition in United Methodist circles that when we gather for our Annual Conference we begin by singing these words from a Charles Wesley Hymn: “And are we yet alive, and see each other’s face?”  In this pandemic year how we long to see each other’s faces in person and not mediated through zoom, google or Facetime.  I suggest that when we are finally able to have in-person worship again we should sing that hymn.

The sadness and trials of 2020 began for me weeks before we ever heard of COVID-19.  A dear friend and colleague died in the first week of January in a freak accident where he fell and hit his head on concrete causing a fatal brain bleed.  The preacher at the celebration of the Rev. Dr. Bill Casto’s life was another of our mutual friends, Bishop Joe Sprague.  The thing that stuck with me most about the Bishop’s sermon was this line: “Where is our brother Bill now?  He is where he’s always been—in the heart of God.” 

As God’s beloved children that’s where all of us are alive, in the heart of God.   God’s gift of eternal life doesn’t start when we die.  Eternal means forever – before our souls took on human form and after this life on earth is over, whenever that may be.

As we prepare our hearts during this pandemic Advent being alive is more precious with death or the threat of it all around us. And being alive is more than simply breathing and existing.  Being alive for people of faith is more about quality than quantity.  It means finding passion and purpose in how we use this day and the life and talent God has given us.

Just as we all live eternally in the heart of God the incarnation we celebrate at Christmas means God came alive as one of us at Bethlehem, but that was not the beginning of Christs’ existence.   As the Gospel of John tells us “He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into beingin him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness (even of 2020) did not overcome it.” (John 1:2-5)

What makes you feel alive?  How can you live more days embracing that feeling?  You are God’s beloved child – how do you plan to live up to that birthright?

My prayer for all of us to have a rebirth of joy and purpose is captured for me in these words from “O Little Town of Bethlehem: “O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray; cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.”  Amen