Advent Wreath Options

There are lots of liturgy options for Advent wreath lighting during worship and here’s a few more!

One of things I find is missing from our (mainline Protestant) worship service is a time for sharing. Testimonies are powerful for those who share them and hear them. Sharing about our faith is also something we need to practice in the safety and comfort of our churches so we’re ready when the Spirit moves us to share with someone outside of church. To this end, two of the three Advent wreath liturgies below include an opportunity for those leading the liturgy to share something personal related to the themes for each week (hope, peace, joy, and love). One option is the more traditional call and response liturgy. Let me know what you think and if you plan to use or adapt any of them for your Advent worship service this year! Click the links below to download.
Happy planning!

Advent Wreath Litanies – Traditional
Advent Wreath Liturgies – Breathing in Hope, Peace, Joy, & Love 
Advent Wreath Liturgies – Testimonies (We used these to coincide with the All Earth Is Waiting Advent series)

Check my other Advent resources here:
Hanging of the Greens Worship service
Bethlehem House of Bread Advent Worship Series
Fear Not Advent Series
The Gift of Yes Advent Series

Sung Advent Communion Liturgy

I’m quite excited the inspiration for a sung communion liturgy came in time for Advent 1! Feel free to use or adapt and let me know if I can clarify any of the phrasing. The congregation will sing the bolded words.
You can also watch this video of how it all came together for our congregation.

Sung Advent Communion to the tune of ‘O Holy Night’
(Tune: CANTIQUE DE NOEL)

O Holy God, your grace and love surround us
we lift our hearts to give you our praise.
You gave to us the earth and all that’s in it
you blessed us, but we were led astray.

   A thrill of hope our weary world rejoices
   For yonder breaks a new glorious morn

Hope is alive!
O hear the angel’s message,
“Do not be afraid
for the Christ will be born.
Eman-u-el
God with us, Emanuel!”

Christ came and taught us to love one another
   His law is love and His gospel is peace
Chains shall He break for all slavr’y be over
And in His name all oppression shall cease

   Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
   Let all within us praise His holy name

Hope is alive!
We join the angel chorus,
“Do not be afraid
for Christ is born.”
Our savior has come!
God’s great gift for all the world.

Led by God’s grace, he brought his friends together
with glowing hearts to this table they came.
Bread broke like flesh, the cup with wine of heaven
a new covenant made in Christ’s name.

   A thrill of hope our weary world rejoices
   For yonder breaks a new glorious morn

Christ gave his life
to show us how to live.
This is God’s gift
giv’n for all to be received.
O bless this bread and cup
that we too might be blessed.               (music repeats ending)

The gift of hope we shine into the darkness
For we shine forth God’s new and glorious morn

   We fall on our knees
   and join the angel voices
   O Christ divine
   Thank you God for Christ your son
United in Christ
   We are Christ for the world.

Text: Corey Turnpenny, 2018
O Holy Night A Sung Communion Liturgy for Advent is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Backpack Blessing

As August draws to a close, we’re preparing for fall and the start of a new school year! I’m excited to be including a backpack blessing in our worship service this year. Either the Sunday before or after the schools in your area start back up, invite students, teachers, and educators of all kinds to bring their bag to church to receive a blessing. We even made buttons for everyone’s bags that say “You are loved!” I’m planning to do this for our Children’s Time that Sunday.

Here’s the responsive liturgy and prayer we’ll be using to bless our backpacks this year:

One: As we begin this new school year, we give thanks that God has given us all the ability to learn many things in many ways.
  Adults: We learn in school, and also in church, in our family,
 in our community, and in the world.
     Kids: Learning is a gift from God.
One: We ask God’s blessing on this new school year, that it may be a time when we appreciate and fully engage God’s gift of learning.
 Adults: We ask God to bless our schools and teachers.
   Kids: We ask God to bless our classmates and friends.
 Adults: We ask God to bless our principals, counselors, and librarians.
One: We ask God to bless those who prepare our lunches, those who drive us to school, and those who keep our schools clean and safe.
Adults: We give thanks to God for books and computers and all the tools that help
us learn.
   Kids: We give thanks to God for the gift of learning!

One: Let us pray.. Loving God, sometimes a new school year seems exciting or scary or both. Sometimes school is great, and sometimes it’s hard. But we know that whether we are excited or scared, you are with us. We know that whether school is great or hard, you are with us. Thank you for always being with us. Help us remember we are loved no matter what. Help us do our best and help us show others your love in all we say and do each day. AMEN

Here’s the invite we’ve been sharing in our community. This one has space for you to add in the date and time of your backpack blessing. And don’t forget to put your church name, address, and website along the bottom!

Pentecost 2017 Communion Liturgy & Call to Worship

 

The Day of Pentecost will soon be here! This year at my church we’re celebrating Pentecost by having a birthday party for The Church! And since we’re having a party we’ve declared June 4th ‘bring a friend to church Sunday’!

I love that Pentecost falls on a Communion Sunday for us this year. Celebrating Holy Communion seems like the best way to remember and celebrate the birth of Christ’s Church. If you’re looking for a Communion liturgy for Pentecost (with modern language) I’ve got you covered: Pentecost 2017 Communion Liturgy

I’ve also included the Call to Worship we’re using below.
Enjoy celebrating the Spirit this Sunday!
The Call
The day of Pentecost has arrived!
   And we are all gathered together in one place
ready to remember and celebrate the birthday of Christ’s Church
   and to receive again the gift of the Holy Spirit!
God, bless us that we will truly be Your Church,
   on fire with Your Holy Spirit!
And work through us in all we do as a church
   that we might truly be a gift to the world.

Artwork by Veronica Dimae, “Pentecost,” 2010.  (Australia)

Modern Communion Liturgy

Click the link below to view the PDF of a modern take on the traditional Great Thanksgiving liturgy for Communion.

Modern Great Thanksgiving Rev. Turnpenny