Tag: Christmas traditions

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

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.

T’was Two Days Before Christmas

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Faith and Values

T’was two days before Christmas and all through my mind thoughts and feelings are bouncing before and behind. On one channel bad news of the world on a continuous loop: refugee kids in cages; impeachment shots fired across a partisan chasm that divides families and friendships; violence rages in streets from Hong Kong to India; and climate crisis wildfires and extreme weather bombard our fragile planet. Another brainwave features heavy grief for the parents of a young man I will bury on Friday. A personal memory that my father would have celebrated his 98th birthday this day tugs at my heart competing with the siren song of consumerism Christmas.

And yet if I listen carefully beneath the static a still small voice proclaims a miracle where one day’s lamp oil lasts over a week—a secret humans have celebrated for millennia every time the solstice darkness surrenders to more minutes of daylight. Another voice chimes in “Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”

I believe. And yet the cosmic tug of war between darkness and light still plays out in my frazzled brain. I drag my heels in futile resistance to turning the page of my mortality calendar into the December years of my life. Despair and hope swing light sabers to see which will rule the new year.

But I know in my better moments that incarnation doesn’t come when it’s easy or unneeded. It does not come with “swords loud clashing or roll of stirring drums,” but “silently, so silently” the the gift of hope is given where “meek souls will receive it still,” not in Time Square or St Peter’s but in a dark cave in a one-stable town where there was no room in the Bethlehem Hilton.

And by Menorah, or star in the east, or Solstice sunrise, the message resounds again and again – Let there be Light!

Lighting the Christ Candle

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Faith and Values, Faith Development, prayer

In the darkest of days we gather once more on this special night to celebrate the holiest of births. We come searching for God in a world that has lost its way. But lest we despair at the state of our world the familiar Christmas stories remind us that things were not all calm and bright that night in Bethlehem.

Jesus was born in a barn because Roman oppression forced his parents to make that painful journey. But there into that terrible situation came an incredible gift, not delivered by FedEx, but by a frightened peasant girl, wrapped in swaddling clothes, announced by a heavenly host, and sent by almighty God who still loves our troubled world.

Tonight that gift comes again silently and calmly to those who have ears to hear the angels and eyes to see the star. It comes to those who take time to pause from the hectic activities of the season, [pause] to be still and at rest in the presence of a baby who sleeps in heavenly peace.

During the Advent season we have lit candles of hope, peace, joy and love. Tonight our waiting is over; our expectations are filled to overflowing as we again dare to light the Christ Candle, the light of the world.

Unison Prayer
O God of Grace and Glory, tonight our hearts are calm and bright, not because of our cares and concerns, but in spite of the things that keep us awake at night. As your Holy Spirit came upon Mary so long ago please send it again to us this very night. Conceive in us a new birth of joy and hope. Fill us to overflowing with your peace and love. Light in us again the eternal flame of your holy presence that we will go forth bravely into the darkness to do the work of Christmas, to feed the hungry, to comfort the sick, to share with all our neighbors the light of the world that no darkness will ever overcome. Amen

4th Sunday of Advent, Candle of Love

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

Like expectant parents we can hardly wait for the miracle of new birth this Advent season. Our spirits are anxious about the labor pain required of us to be reborn in Christ, but the Love of God is stronger than our fears. And so like Mary and Joseph and. Elizabeth we dare to say no to hate in all its ugly forms and a resounding yes to God’s gift of Love wrapped in swaddling clothes.

It is God’s love we celebrate in Joseph’s devotion to Mary, a love so strong that even the baby John feels it while still inside his mother. It is love that dares to believe in the impossible, even a virgin birth. Love is the source of all of the Advent gifts. Hope, Peace, and Joy all flow from God’s love, but the greatest gift is Love. And so on this 4th and final Sunday of Advent we light the Candle of Amazing Love that gives Hope, Peace and Joy to a world that badly needs them all.

Prayer of Confession: Please pray with me: O God of holy expectations, we are humbled when we ponder the faith and trust of all the Christmas story characters who trusted and believed in the power of your incredible love to change the world. We confess we don’t say yes to your Holy Spirit like Mary did, we don’t believe like Joseph, we don’t leap for joy like Elizabeth. The pressure of deadlines and responsibilities are enemies of love. Fear of getting outside our comfort zone keeps us from sharing the most precious gift of your love. Help us in the middle of this hectic season to recognize acts of kindness in others and face honestly our own failures to trust and obey your radical claim upon our lives. Help us keep Christ in us. Give us eyes to see the star, ears to hear the angels and the courage to obey and go where you say. Our Christmas prayer, O giver of life, is that we will be open to your amazing love being conceived in us this Holy Season. Amen

Advent: Hope

by Steve Harsh, posted in Faith and Values, prayer

As in the days of Jesus’ birth we live today in times of distress and fear. Our nation and world are so deeply divided it is sometimes hard to sense God’s spirit among us. News of violence and suffering bombard us on all sides. The holiday traditions are great, but they keep us so busy we may miss the signs of God’s kingdom right before our eyes.

The Advent season calls us again to raise our heads and be alert so we don’t miss the most important parts of Christmas. Advent is time for us to quiet our hearts and see clearly what we really need from God. We do not long for more stuff that does not satisfy, what we long for are hearts full of Hope that the world cannot give or take from us.

And so today we light the first Candle of Advent, the candle of Hope.

Prayer of Confession: Gracious God, we confess it is so easy to lose hope. Family conflicts, grieving hearts, loneliness, aging, and illness seem to rob us of the things we hope for. The Christmas lights shine into the darkness of December, but they can also be so bright they overshadow the light of the world. We are tempted to trust Amazon to be our deliverer instead of the Messiah. We decorate the halls earlier but fail to make room in our hearts for the Christ child. As we hope for the calmness that surpasses all human understanding, remind us again that we don’t just need a little Christmas; we need to be more like Jesus to truly be people of Hope. Amen

Christmas Eve Prayer

by Steve Harsh, posted in Faith and Values, prayer

O God, as we celebrate again this holy night, remind us that Christmas is so much more than just retelling a sentimental tale. We give thanks that Christmas is a time of fellowship and fine food, a time to put aside just for a while, the things that divide us. But let us not forget how marvelous and how expensive a gift Christmas really is. Remind us that the manger of Bethlehem and the cross of Calvary are both made of the same wood; that this small child, this incarnation of your love, was not sent to be a decoration for us to display for a season, but came to show us what real love looks like on a daily basis– a love that is willing to die for us, a love that came, as the angels said, to save us from all fear and give us eternal peace.

Remind us again tonight, God, why we tell the Christmas story– because of who Jesus became, what he taught, how he lived, and how he died but lives eternally. This cold winter night, we bring our gifts of thanks because though we are undeserving we are once more offered the greatest gift ever given—a free gift, with no strings attached—a helpless peasant baby who slipped quietly and unexpectedly into a world full of oppression and fear. He came to be a gift and to show us that we are also gifts, all of us, no matter how insignificant we feel we are all members of your human family.

Remind us that to be human is a gift, because it means that God’s own heart beats within us. Inspire us with stories of angels and shepherds to show us that we can all love as Jesus loves. That is truly a most precious gift. But Jesus showed us that it is also a costly gift – it will cost us our very lives, all that we are, to be the kind of gift Jesus is.

We praise you O God for the one true Christmas gift. Give us meek hearts to receive him, trusting hearts of children who dare to believe, and through the magic of Christmas let us allow ourselves to be transformed into gifts – gifts to one another of peace and love and joy to be shared with all the world.

In the name of the Christ child who is our Lord and Savior forever we pray. Amen.

[Written for Northwest UMC, Columbus, OH]

A Shepherd Lights the Christ Candle

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Faith and Values

Good evening. As you can see I make my living as a shepherd and my home is in the fields. Sheep are my business and our lives are pretty routine, even boring at times. But there was one night, much like this one, that I will never forget.

It started out as a normal night. I was watching the stars, one of my favorite pastimes. When suddenly, a light shone all around us, and we felt a, well…a presence. We turned, and there stood an angel! Frankly, it scared us out of our wits!

But the calmness in the angel’s voice quieted our fears as he told us of an incredible event that had just happened over in Bethlehem. The angel told us that our savior had just been born! Christ the Lord! Then he said a very strange thing. He said that we would find the messiah in a cattle stall, lying in, of all things, a manger. Then the sky filled with angels, all of them praising god for this marvelous gift. [Pause] and then they were gone and it was very quiet again.

Our people had been waiting for the messiah for a very long time, and we’ve had a lot of false alarms. But after talking it over, we decided we had to go check this out for ourselves. And, believe it or not, when we got to Bethlehem we found a little family in the stall and quietly approached them. We didn’t want to wake the baby. And there he was…the sweet little baby who would become our King of Kings, our Lord of Lords. The hope of all creation.

After a little while we returned to the fields full of hope and praising god for what we had heard and witnessed firsthand. We had seen the good shepherd who will always lead us back to god when we get off the path. [pause]

And so tonight, I light the Christ candle, to celebrate the gift of God’s son, the light of the world.

[Christmas Eve, Northwest UMC, Columbus, OH, concluding a series on the “Supporting Cast of Christmas.”

Mary: 4th Advent Candle

by Steve Harsh, posted in Faith and Values

Pastor: On this 4th and final Sunday of Advent we continue our journey toward Christmas. And today’s supporting cast member in the marvelous Christmas story is a woman of tremendous Faith, Mary the mother of Jesus.

[Mary enters in contemporary dress]

Mary: Words cannot describe how I felt when I first learned you were to be the mother of God’s Son.

Mary: I was totally shocked when an angel showed up out of nowhere and told me I was to be the mother of the Messiah! Me! A poor young woman engaged to a carpenter. Why would God choose us to raise his son? I was scared to death!

Joseph and I were engaged but not married yet. You can’t imagine what my family and the townspeople would say about that. And what could I tell Joseph? He’d never believe God was the father of my baby! Nobody would. Joseph would assume I had been unfaithful to him. That was considered adultery, and the punishment for that was death by stoning! I was really scared!

But the angel told me that God was with me. He said, “Nothing is impossible with God,” and being a devout Jewish girl, I knew this was true. Faith came over me and calmed my fear. I suddenly just knew that I could trust God completely. And from a place deep inside me I said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”

Then the angel told me about Elizabeth’s miraculous pregnancy, and I went to visit her so we could share our joy and excitement. But the joy I felt with Elizabeth couldn’t compare with what came later in that stable in Bethlehem. When Jesus was born and the soft moonlight gently fell on the one who was to be the light of the world, then we knew what real Joy was.

[Goes to Advent Wreath]

I hope my story reminds all of us that we are called to be faithful servants who know that with God all things are possible. As we light the fourth Candle of Advent may it light the way on our journey from fear to faith.

[4th in a series of Advent dramas by supporting characters in the Christmas Story, Northwest UMC, Columbus, Ohio]

Prayer for 4th Sunday in Advent

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Faith and Values, prayer

Dec. 24, 2017
O God of our lives every day of the year, we just want to thank you for this special day. Like expectant parents we can’t wait to celebrate this special birth again. But even in our anticipation some of us are worn out from preparing for Christmas. Some of us are not joyful because of losses we have suffered in the last year. Help us all to be sensitive and caring for those who are feeling grief or loneliness that is multiplied by this season’s festivities.

For some of us life is a struggle. We lack adequate resources to sustain life and strength to care for loved ones. Or we are separated from family by circumstances beyond our control. As this Christmas approaches closer and closer in different time zones all around the world help us to feel the ties that bind us together by the universal love that Christmas represents. The angels proclaim good news for all people, Mary reminds us that the poor and oppressed among us have a special place in your heart, O Lord, and therefore in ours.

May the humble simplicity of Jesus’ birth remind us to examine our own lives and priorities. Touch us with your grace so we can truly put our trust in you and not in material idols or worldly power. Help us to experience the miracle of Christmas this year with fresh eyes and ears so we feel the power of how unique and revolutionary Christ’s birth was and is for those who place their total faith in him. Let us kneel with the shepherds at the manger with renewed amazement and commitment to share the wonderful news of Christ far beyond Christmas Day.
Fill us with such hope by your willingness to become one of us, sharing our humanity with all its brokenness that we not only ponder this miracle in our hearts, but witness to those who need you most by paying forward the gift of Christmas in grace and kindness, mercy and love to everyone our lives touch.

We ask these things in the name of our Lord and Savior who taught us this prayer….