WORSHIP RESOURCES
Fourth Sunday of Advent (Peace)
Luke 1:39-55
A Vision of Justice
Additional Scriptures
Micah 5:2-5a; Psalm 80:1-7; Hebrews 10:5-10; Doctrine and Covenants 161:2a-b
Preparation
During Advent, create a tabletop wreath to be used as a center of worship. Candles are placed in a wreath with greenery around them. The circle of greenery reminds us that God is eternal, without beginning or end. Four purple or dark blue candles, one for each week in Advent, are set in the circle. A rose candle may be used for the week in Advent that represents joy. A white Christ candle for Christmas Day is placed in the center. Each Sunday the previous week’s candle(s) is relit before the service and one additional candle is lit. Light the fifth candle, the Christ candle, during a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day service to signify the birth of Jesus. For a hybrid service, encourage those watching from home to create their own Advent worship center.
Learn the American Sign Language sign for “peace.”
Decorate with the liturgical color of the season, deep blue.
Prior to Advent, invite participants to suggest their favorite Christmas carols to be sung during the gathering time of each Advent worship service.
Prepare for Visio Divina with an image of Mary and Elizabeth to be shown. Be sure to secure permission to project/stream the image.
Prepare for the ministry of music of the Magnificat. Many options may be found on the Internet. Be sure to secure permission to use of songs and videos.
Praise
Prelude
Gathering with Carols of the Season and Sharing the Peace of the Season Choose 1 or 2.
“Angels, from the Realms of Glory” CCS 436
“The First Noel” CCS 424
“Silvery Star, Precious Star” CCS 419
OR
Sing carols that have been previously suggested by participants.
Call to Worship: Micah 5:2-5a
Welcome
Peace be with you. Offer to those gathered around you the blessing of Christmas peace.
Lighting of the Advent Candles
Advent is the season in the Christian calendar that celebrates the four Sundays before Christmas. In Latin, Advent means “coming” and it is a time to prepare and remember the real meaning of Christmas, the coming of Jesus into our world.
Today, we light the candle of peace. Light the candle.
We are reminded of God’s call to us to be peacemakers. Peace is a prayer that begins with me.
Hymn Response
“Hope Is a Light” Stanzas 2 and 5 CCS 398
Learn the American Sign Language signs for “peace” and “Jesus” and teach these to the children so they may accompany the participants during this hymn, with the sign for “peace” and “Jesus” when these words are sung.
“Peace” involves the palms of the hands touching, then rotating in opposite directions as if they were getting all twisted up, and then pulling the “twisted” palms apart and smoothing everything out as the hands—palms down—move away from one another.
To do the sign for “Jesus,” Touch the tip of the middle finger of your dominant hand into the center of the palm of your nondominant hand. Then touch the tip of the middle finger of your nondominant hand into the palm of your dominant hand. Memory aide: Think of the nails that held him while on the cross.
Confession
Scripture Reading Part 1: Luke 1:39-45
Spiritual Practice: Visio Divina
Project or display an image of Mary and Elizabeth. Be sure to have appropriate permission.
Visio Divina invites us into “divine seeing.” Prayerful consideration and interaction with an image allow us to experience the divine in a unique and powerful way.
In this time of Visio Divina, you are invited to open your heart to this image of Mary and Elizabeth. What about this artist’s representation that draws your attention? Consider Elizabeth’s gratitude and emotions. Consider Mary’s vulnerability and her capacity to be open to God and the Spirit. We will spend some time in silence as you view and pray with this image.
Scripture Reading Part 2: Luke 1:46-55
Ministry of Music or Congregational Hymn on The Magnificat
“Canticle of the Turning” CCS 404
Proclamation of the Word
Christmas Message
Based on Luke 1:39-55
Hymn
“Blessed Be the God of Israel” CCS 396
OR “Come, Join in Mary’s Prophet Song” CCS 308
Commitment
Disciples’ Generous Response
Scripture Reading: Doctrine and Covenants 161:2a-b
Statement
During the Advent season, we are reminded of God’s abundant generosity in the gift of his son. As we reflect on this freely given gift, may we be reminded that God calls us to bless the world with our own gifts. As we generously share by placing money in the offering plates or through eTithing, we join the movement of God’s compassion bringing hope to the world.
If you have participants joining the worship online, remind them that they can give through www.CofChrist.org/give or through eTithing at www.eTithing.org (consider displaying these URLs).
Blessing Receiving of Local and Worldwide Mission Tithes
Prayer for Peace
Light the peace candle.
Poem
“Making Room for Jesus” Verse 2
A weary hand pounds on the door of an inn,
and there is not room!
No room, God of peace, for peace to be born.
Oh, how we need your gift of peace!
Peace unwilling to sleep in the shadows,
unwilling to live and die
in speeches made and slogans said.
Surely there is room for peace?
Peace beyond politics, power, and position.
Peace that wages war against conflict,
avarice, and inequity
in a world where peace for me
and mine alone is not peace at all.
—Danny Belrose in Wave Offerings, Herald House 2005.
Used with permission.
Hymn of Advent Peace
“Joseph, Kind Joseph” CCS 414
OR “What Child Is This” CCS 432
Peace Prayer
Keeper of the Great Shalom,
You carry such a broad and expansive universe on your shoulders yet make yourself known to us in this season of Advent and expectation for the coming Christ. Help us strive for peace like water rushing toward the ocean. As water brings life, allow peace to generate new life in us. As water carves new lands and patterns into being, allow peace to create new spaces in our lives and communities. As water flows on to nourish many places unseen, allow peace to flow through us to create new bonds of life again. God, allow the birth of the Christ child to nourish us anew. Help us bring peace into the world each day. Amen.
Focus Scripture for the Coming Week: Luke 2:1-20
Hymn of Celebration
“Hark, The Herald Angels Sing” CCS 423
OR “Go, Tell It on the Mountain” CCS 409
Benediction
Postlude
SERMON AND CLASS HELPS
Year C—Letters
Fourth Sunday of Advent
Luke 1:39-55
Exploring the Scripture
After the angel Gabriel tells Mary she has been selected by God to be the mother of Jesus, Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth. This passage describes the patience and faith present in that community long ago and is read in today’s church communities during Advent as part of the waiting and preparation for Christmas.
Mary’s reason for visiting Elizabeth is not entirely clear, but Elizabeth becomes the first to hear the news. We can infer that Mary sensed the need to reach out to her community as she responded faithfully to God’s call. This intimate exchange between two faithful women demonstrates how people in community can provide one another affirmation, support, and encouragement when they choose to be vulnerable to divine grace.
Mary may have gone to seek counsel and support from Elizabeth because of her misgivings. Gabriel’s news was stunning. When we sense God calling us to action, we naturally seek counsel with a trusted confidant. Such affirmation from trusted disciples helps us consider our understanding and response.
Another reason Mary may have gone to visit Elizabeth might have been Mary’s wish to share her growing awareness of how the two cousins were connected in God’s unfolding vision. As Mary began to understand the role of Jesus, she may have also had insight into the role of Elizabeth’s baby, John. For us, as we read this passage knowing the whole story, it is easy to see the connection between the two women and their sons: one son, the messenger; and one son, the message.
Elizabeth’s description of her baby jumping for joy in the womb when he heard Mary’s voice provides us a preview. This passage hints how Elizabeth’s baby, John, will serve as a person who will herald Jesus’ arrival and prepare the way for his message. The baby’s response to Mary led Elizabeth to a greater understanding of Mary’s calling and who her baby was. Elizabeth was led by the Holy Spirit to bless Mary and the baby she carried.
In response to the blessing received, Mary responded with a song of faith we now call “Mary’s Song” or the “Magnificat.” It is a song shared in humility. It is a statement of Mary’s faith in God’s goodness, faithfulness, and mercy. In Mary’s song, we find words that express our understanding of God’s nature. Mary also articulates a powerful vision of justice and peace as part of God’s message to her.
From Mary and Elizabeth we learn that among the blessings of community is that the gospel of Jesus Christ is expressed best in community life where people become vulnerable to God’s grace and one another. As we ponder the journeys of these two pregnant women, we are reminded that we need to be patient as we wait for God’s purposes to come forth through our faithful acts. We are also reminded—as we wait and listen with one another—that we are prepared for new opportunities for mission, which are being birthed into the world.
Central Ideas
- Mary’s news was surprising. She sought her cousin’s embracing love to help her come to terms with what God had called her to do. Sharing with others brings affirmation and clarity about God’s vision of shalom.
- One of the blessings of community is that the gospel of Jesus Christ is expressed best in community life where people become vulnerable to God’s grace and one another.
- In Mary’s song, we find words that express our understanding of God’s nature and a powerful vision for justice and peace on Earth.
- The story of Mary and Elizabeth reminds us faithful discipleship often requires patience and waiting.
Questions for the Speaker
- How do you seek affirmation of the Holy Spirit?
- How do we develop such a community where we can both give and receive support for mission?
- What is God trying to “birth” through the giftedness of you and your congregation?
- In what ways does your congregation embody the message of justice and peace on Earth found in Mary’s song?
-
What can you do to prepare as you patiently wait?
SACRED SPACE: A RESOURCE FOR SMALL-GROUP MINISTRY
Year C, Letters
Fourth Sunday of Advent—Peace
Hebrews 10:5–10
Gathering
Welcome
Advent is a season of waiting in expectation for the coming of light into a darkened world in the form of the infant Jesus. Advent is spent anticipating and spiritually preparing for the arrival of the Christ-child. Scriptures, symbols, and hymns help make Advent a time of expectation for Christ’s birth, rather than a frenzy of holiday tasks.
The Advent season begins four Sundays before Christmas and is observed each Sunday until Christmas Day. An Advent wreath with four candles and one Christ candle in the center often is used to observe the weeks of Advent. One candle is lit each week until all are burning brightly on Christmas Day.
Prayer for Peace
Ring a bell or chime three times slowly.
Light the peace candle.
Keeper of the great shalom, you carry such a broad and expansive universe on your shoulders, yet you make yourself known to us in this season of Advent and expectation for the coming Christ. Help us strive for peace like water rushing toward the ocean. As water brings life, allow peace to generate new life in us. As water carves new lands and patterns into being, allow peace to create new spaces in our lives and communities. As water flows to nourish many places unseen, allow peace to flow through us to create new bonds of life again. God, allow the birth of the Christ child to nourish us anew. Help us bring peace into the world, each and every day. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Journaling—Pregnant Waiting
Light the fourth candle of Advent and say:
Today we light the fourth candle of Advent. This candle symbolizes the peace Christ brings to the world. May we seek peace and patience in our lives.
Read the following aloud:
Advent teaches us metaphorical lessons through the image of pregnancy. Although waiting for the birth of a child is difficult, if we rush quickly to the end, it will diminish the quality of life for that baby. A baby needs each day between conception and birth to grow. This is true for us in our spiritual lives, as well. We learn to live with discomfort and the unknown. We learn to settle into the waiting time. Advent reminds us to go inward and be patient with the discomfort.
Pass out papers and pens and ask the following:
- What are you being invited to wait for?
- How does Advent remind you of the importance of patience in the spiritual journey?
Give the group five minutes to journal and then invite members to share their thoughts and feelings.
Sharing Around the Table
Hebrews 10:5–10 NRSVue
Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body you have prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘See, I have come to do your will, O God’
(in the scroll of the book it is written of me).”
When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “See, I have come to do your will.” He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hebrews is a sermon shared in written form. Its author is unknown, likely a Jewish Christian, but not the Apostle Paul. Hebrews’ first readers were likely Jews who had accepted Christianity. As they faced severe persecution in the first-century Roman Empire, they were tempted to abandon their Christian faith and return to the safety of Judaism. Hebrews is a treatise on why Christianity is the better choice.
This passage comes from the tension between the waning temple system with its priests and animal sacrifices and the growing synagogue network with its rabbis serving a people who did not have regular access to the Jerusalem Temple. The author writes that God does not want or take pleasure in blood sacrifices, and that Jesus’s self-offering of his own body abolished the old system. The author points out the futility of animal sacrifices, which must be repeated every year because of their lack of effectiveness. Animal sacrifices must be repeated over and again because they cannot take away sin.
God wants from people a desire to do God’s will and make our lives a living sacrifice that is pleasing to God, doing as Jesus did.
As we read this text in Advent, Christ’s birth has deeper meaning, because we know what his life, death, and resurrection will do. From a system where some were judged unworthy, Christ makes way for all to be seen, accepted, reconciled, forgiven, and loved by God.
Questions
- What does “sacrifice” mean to you? How have you sacrificed in your life? Why, or for what purpose, have you sacrificed?
- How does knowing about Christ’s life, death, and resurrection change how we live into Advent?
- Maya Angelou, a well-known American poet and writer, once said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” How can this idea be applied to our religious or spiritual lives and practices?
Sending
Generosity Statement
Faithful disciples respond to an increasing awareness of the abundant generosity of God by sharing according to the desires of their hearts; not by commandment or constraint.
—Doctrine and Covenants 163:9
The offering basket is available if you would like to support ongoing, small-group ministries as part of your generous response. You also may give at CofChrist.org/give.
The offering prayer for Advent is adapted from A Disciple’s Generous Response.
God who is faithful, be present with us as we plan our spending. May we use our resources in ways that build healthy, happy relationships with you, with others, and with Earth. May we remember the teachings of Jesus that challenge us to make lifestyle choices that are counter to our culture of accumulation and excess. Amen.
Invitation to Next Meeting
Closing Hymn
Community of Christ Sings 402, “Peace Child”
Closing Prayer
Optional Additions Depending on Group
- Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
- Thoughts for Children
Thoughts for Children
This activity will continue throughout Advent:
You will need:
- evergreen branches in a spiral shape with items of peace scattered throughout (created last week)
- a collection of items that might represent peace in some way. You can collect these before the gathering or find them outside.*
For Advent this year, you will need a place where your Advent spiral can stay each week. You can leave it where it is after every gathering or store it somewhere safe and rebuild it before your gathering each week.
Say: Today is the fourth Sunday in Advent. Advent is a time of waiting, but it also is a journey toward Christmas, when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. This year, as we journey through Advent, we will create an Advent spiral. Each week we will add something to our spiral so it will grow as we get closer to Christmas.
Last week we placed items within our spiral that reminded us of hope.
This week, we are going to add to our spiral. (Say either…)
- I have brought some items that remind me of peace in different ways.
- We are going to go outside and look for things in nature that help us feel peaceful.
Choose one thing that makes you feel peace so we can add it to our spiral. At Christmas we experience the peace of the coming Prince of Peace. Jesus changed the way things always had been. He challenged unjust systems that left people feeling sad and called for a new way of living that let everyone experience peace.
Help participants pick an item that reminds them of peace and find a spot within the spiral to lay it on an evergreen. Thank them for their help and invite them back the following week to see what we will add to our spiral.
*If you choose this option, help participants respect plant and animal life by finding things that already are on the ground or near falling off.