Tag: Advent candles

Third Sunday of Advent 2025, the Candle of Joy

by Steve Harsh, posted in Advent, Christian Discipleship, Christmas

This third Sunday of Advent we celebrate the gift of joy. Think of the pure unbridled, squealing, giggling joy of kids on Christmas morning. That’s the joy we want as we anticipate the greatest gift ever given – God incarnate, overflowing with undeserved, indescribable grace.

We await Emmanuel, God with Us, who from our fears and sins releases us so we can dance a happy dance and make angels in the snow. This is the joy that like the North Star is always there, even when hidden by cloudy skies. Nothing, absolutely nothing in all creation can ever snuff out the joy in the hearts of God’s beloved who have knelt at Bethlehem’s manger.

And so today we relight the candles of Hope and Peace, and we add to the growing brightness by lighting the candle of Joy.

(Light 3 candles)

Please pray with me the prayer on the screen:

O merciful God, we confess our joy often gets lost in the hectic schedule of this season. We have so much to do and so little time. All the festivities are wonderful, but it’s so easy to lose track of what the season is all about. Break through our busyness and remind us of Isaiah’s wisdom that a little child shall lead us. Let us feel again childlike wonder, so joy can bubble up in our hearts, and for just a little while let us lose ourselves in the mystery of your holy incarnation. Amen

Northwest UMC, Columbus, Ohio

Advent 2: Candle of Peace 2025

by Steve Harsh, posted in Advent, Christmas, self-care, spiritual discipline

“Be still and know that I am God.” Those words from Psalm 46 were given to the people of Jerusalem when their city was literally surrounded by the armies of Assyria. In a time when their lives were in pieces God offers the gift of inner peace. “Relax, breathe,” God says, “Trust me to handle this.”

This second Sunday in Advent is a time to find quiet stillness in our souls because we are in God’s hands. God is the source of inner calm which we must have for peaceful living with our neighbors. We cannot solve the problems of world peace. But each of us is called to be a peacemaker with that neighbor, who votes the wrong way, and with the weird cousin who disrupts family gatherings, and with the co-worker who drives us batty.

Today we relight the candle of hope from last Sunday, and we faithfully light the candle of peace that begins in each of our hearts.

[Light two candles]

Please join me in the prayer on the screen:

Dear God, you are our refuge and strength. Because of you we do not fear when our lives go to pieces. We know the peace that begins when we take time to be still and know you are always with us. You give us a peace that passes all human understanding. You promise us a Prince of Peace, and this Advent season we prepare ourselves again for his coming. Because of his birth in a humble stable we find a stable faith that shows up in peacemaking wherever we are. Amen

Northwest UMC, Columbus, Ohio

2nd Sunday of Advent 2023

by Steve Harsh, posted in Advent
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Ever since the angels proclaimed their message of “peace on earth” to the shepherds of Bethlehem our weary world has lived between that promise of peace and humankind’s warring madness.  It seems we have waited so very long for peace. Our patience wears thin and our hope is challenged, but we are reminded by Scripture that “our time is not God’s time.”  Our perspective is limited and brief, but God’s is infinite and eternal. 

Being patient while we wait is so hard for us finite humans.  2000 years since Jesus’ birth we are still longing for fulfillment of God’s promise, even as we prepare our hearts again for the miracle of Christmas.   We give thanks for God’s grace and patience with all of His fallible children.  We humans still live caught between peace on one hand and fear on the other because of our own love of power and our human weaknesses. 

But even if it seems foolish by the world’s standards, here and now today we still dare to light this candle of peace, the second candle of Advent.  This candle is far more than wax and a wick; it is a witness to the world that God’s promise of a peace that surpasses all understanding is still trustworthy and true. 

[Light candle]

Please pray with me as I share this prayer from Kate Bowler and Jessica Ritchie, from their book, “The Lives We Actually Have:”

Come, Lord, that we might see you, move with you, keep pace with you.

Blessed are we who ask that this Advent          

we might dwell together quietly in our homes.

Come, Lord, that we might be for others the peace they cannot find.

Blessed are we who look to you and say, God, truly, we are troubled and afraid.

Come govern our hearts and calm our fears.

Oh Prince of Peace, still our restless selves, calm our anxious hearts,

quiet our busy minds.

Hear our prayers O Holy One, which we offer in the name of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.  Amen

Northwest UMC, Columbus, OH, December 10, 2023

Advent I 2023: Hope

by Steve Harsh, posted in Advent, hope

Today is the first Sunday in the season of Advent.  It is a time of preparing our hearts to receive once more God’s promise of healing for our broken world.  Advent is a season of waiting and hoping for what is already but not yet.  It is a time of living in between – between promise and fulfillment, between hope for and receiving.  

This Advent it is harder than usual to be people of hope. The skies over the Holy Land are full of rockets and bombs instead of an angel chorus. We live between Christmas carols on the airways and horrific images of war on our news feeds.

But here, even in this time between hope and despair, we gather to reaffirm our faith in the eternal light that cannot be extinguished by any amount of human sin and suffering. As people of faith have done for hundreds of years we claim the gift of hope once more by lighting the first candle of Advent.

[Light Candle]

Please pray with me as I share this Advent prayer from Kate Bowler and Jessica Ritchie, from their book, “The Lives We Actually Have:”

“God, these are darkening days, with little hope in sight.

Help us in our fear and exhaustion. Anchor us in hope.  Bless us who cry out: ‘Oh God, why does the bad always seem to win?

When will good prevail?

We know you are good, but we see so little goodness.’

God, show us your heart, how you seek out the broken.

Lift us on your shoulders and carry us home—no matter how strong we think we are.

God, seek us out, and find us, we your tired people, and lead us out to where hope lies. where your kingdom will come and your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Fill us with your courage. Calm us with your love. Fortify us with your hope.”

We pray in the name of the One we Hope for who already walks with us every day. Amen

Northwest UMC, Columbus, Ohio, December 3, 2023

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

Advent 4: Love

by Steve Harsh, posted in Faith and Values, prayer

Just as expectant parents prepare for the miracle of birth, decorating the nursery and buying supplies for their newborn, so we prepare our hearts to receive this greatest gift of all, the miracle of God’s love.

God does not need a labor and delivery room because God is the one in whom we live, and move and have our being. But when we are wounded by others or weary from struggling against the forces of evil we sometimes forget God is close enough to taste the salt of our tears.

Today we are tired of the bad news that bombards us every day.  We are tired of senseless violence, tired of natural disasters, tired of fearing an invisible virus, and oh so tired of separation from loved ones and interruptions to our normal lives.  

[Light Candle] And yet we light this candle of love again on this short December day because we know God is always here and everywhere.  We rejoice and hope and love, not because all is well in our weary world, but because it is well with our souls.  We are warm even this close to the winter solstice because we are wrapped in God’s eternal love.

And so we pray: O Holy One, even as our days grow shorter the candles of hope, peace, joy and love burn brightly.  Even in the darkness we see the star of Bethlehem leading us to the greatest gift of Love the world has ever received.  We know you will be with us this week even if all the gifts have not arrived, even if the guest list is missing people we love, even if we are in quarantine; because nothing can separate us from your love.  We can’t begin to explain this holy miracle, but we light candles and sing praises anyway because we feel your love in the depths of our souls.  For that gift we give you thanks and praise.  Amen

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

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT LITURGY: JOY

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, prayer, spiritual discipline

First Reader: On the third Sunday of Advent we ponder and celebrate the gift of Joy. We remember that life was not all calm and bright for Mary and Joseph either. The Holy family lived under oppressive Roman rule. Because there was no room in the inn Mary’s labor room was a barn. And yet baby Jesus slept in heavenly peace there in his manger bed.

Second Reader: From day one Jesus shows us that Joy does not come from external circumstances. As he would later sleep through a storm at sea and face crucifixion with steadfast faith, Jesus shows us that joy is an internal state of being, and He is the way to true Joy. He was at home in God’s universe no matter what was going on around him. (As reader 1 lights 3 candles) And so today we relight the candles of Hope and Peace and add the third candle, the candle of Joy.

Unison Prayer of confession: O God who loves us so much you came to a humble stable. You sent John to warn us to turn back from the things that bring us no joy. We confess we have not always listened to your prophets. We have not always lived lives that bear good fruit. We have failed to receive the power of your Holy Spirit. This Advent, fill us to overflowing with true joy. Let us follow the true Messiah who sets us free to share joyfully with our neighbors. Teach us to be humble bearers of Good News so our lives may be signs that proclaim Joy to the World. Amen