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1st Week of Advent
Peace Reflection
Welcome and Theme: We gather as a community of hope and wonder this first Sunday of Advent, to hear in the readings the call to “come to the Heart of Love”, and to care for all those in need. May we listen with open hearts and minds as we break open the spoken word, and break bread together.
Lighting of Advent Candles
Advent Candle Lighting Blessing Prayer
Like our ancestors, we honor the cycles and the seasons that remind us of the ever-changing flow of life. Ritual acts give life meaning—they honor and acknowledge the unseen web of Life that connects us all.
Week 1 – Presider lights candle as member of community prays:
We light this first candle and remember the Holy One who created light and life out of darkness by loving. The dark shadow of space leans over us and we are mindful that the darkness of greed, exploitation, and hatred also lengthens its shadow over our small planet Earth.
And so we respond: Let us kindle the light of hope!
Presider concludes: Indeed, let us welcome the light within each other!
Opening Song: Hope Waits for Us In Advent by Amanda Udis-Kessler
https://youtu.be/qp80wPEc20E?si=aNAlbiwZ_Kn1dOzJ
Opening Prayer: O Great Mystery, as we embark on the journey of Advent, let us reflect on the coming wonder of new life that comes into the world to bring light and truth into our midst, that we might embrace the Light within our hearts and carry it forward into our daily lives, sharing it with all those we encounter. Amen.
LITURGY OF THE WORD
Reading 1: Psalm 122 adapted by Nan Merrill
My spirit roared when a Voice spoke to me:
“Come, come to the Heart of Love!”
How long I had stood with the house of fear
Yearning to enter the gates of Love!
The New Jerusalem, the Holy City,
Is bound firmly together;
All who seek the Heart of Love,
Those who have faced their fears,
Enter the gates in peace and with
Great joy, singing songs of thanksgiving.
There, in harmony with the cosmos,
The community gathers united in love.
Reading 2: A reading from the Letter to the Romans (Rom 13:8-10)
Owe nothing to anyone except love; for they who love their neighbor have satisfied the Law. The commandments - “You must not commit adultery. You must not kill. You must not steal. You must not covet, and whatever other commandment there is – are all summed up in the words “You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Love never wrongs a neighbor. Therefore love fully satisfies the Law.
We affirm this message from the Letter to the Romans written by Paul with, Amen.
Gospel Acclamation: Mass of Advent - Alleluia by Dave & Lauren Moore
https://youtu.be/lZnbrTRI38U?si=fFEiNFfJat7ZOwym
Gospel: A reading from the Gospel attributed to Matthew
“The ruler will say to those on the right, ‘Come, you blessed of my Abba God! Inherit the kindom prepared for you from the creation for the world!
For I was hungry and you fed me:
I was thirsty and you gave me drink.
I was a stranger and you welcomed me;
Naked and you clothed me.
I was ill and you comforted me;
In prison and you came to visit me.’
Then these just will ask, ‘When did we see you hungry and feed you, or see you thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you as a stranger and invite you in, or clothe you in your nakedness? When did we see you ill or in prison and come to visit you?’ The ruler will answer them, ‘The truth is, every time you did this for the least of my sisters or brothers, you did it for me.’
We affirm this reading from the Gospel attributed to Matthew with, Amen.
Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible: The First Egalitarian Translation (p. 657). Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.
Homily and Shared Reflections
“Come, come to the Heart of Love”. What a beautiful message to begin this Advent Season, especially as it seems we are surrounded by voices of dread, of despair, having us at times thinking that we are standing in “the house of fear”, and at times, perhaps we are. Tripp Fuller, a theologian shares that “Advent is simultaneously the most beautiful and the most unsettling season of the church year. It’s about waiting for a birth and waiting for peace. It’s about the fulfillment that already happened in Bethlehem and the fulfillment we’re still waiting for. It’s about hope in a world that keeps breaking us, and conviction that God’s Commonwealth is coming whether the empires like it or not.”1
Today’s readings invite us to take time to contemplate how, in the world in which we live, we can best open our hearts to contemplate and strengthen ourselves to continue birthing the message of love and light that the Incarnate Word brings forth, in the midst of so much hatred and injustice. This is the world in which Jesus also was born and lived. His birth and life, whether miraculous or not, offered his followers and the Jewish people a sense of hope and a recognition that they were valued, that they deserved to be respected and treated with dignity and love.
The author known as Paul, in our second reading, states “Owe nothing to anyone but Love” reminding us that all the rules, all the commandments, in the end boil down to simply love God and your neighbor, with your neighbor being everyone and everything. Dorothy Day wrote, “Love and ever more love is the only solution to every problem that comes up. If we love each other enough, we will bear with each other's faults and burdens. If we love enough, we are going to light a fire in the hearts of others. And it is love that will burn out the sins and hatreds that sadden us. It is love that will make us want to do great things for each other. No sacrifice and no suffering will then seem too much.”2
Wow, that sounds like a tall order, loving enough to “burn out sins and hatreds”, and to “bear with each other’s faults and burdens”. However, today’s Gospel provides some thoughts on how to do so, feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned. All ways to live out love. We can be literal about these ideas, but perhaps we can broaden how it is done. Feeding the hungry may not be just about food, but about the hunger for understanding our differences, or understanding a bit more about someone who thinks differently than me. Loving enough. Welcoming the stranger, can certainly be about embracing immigrants into our communities, but perhaps the harder one is welcoming the haters into dialogue, not dismissing their fears and concerns but listening to them. Loving enough.
During this season of Hope, can we embrace “loving enough” into our lives and our communities. Jan Phillips writes, “Hope is the energy that sustains a new vision while it transforms from the realm of the imagination into the realm of manifest reality. … Hope is not a powerless waiting for, but a powerful welcoming of the future we are creating. It is an evolutionary act that totally engages the body, mind and spirit. Hope is not business as usual. It is re-orienting to a new star.”3 Perhaps we can follow the Star of Hope that opens our hearts to imagining and welcoming a future that brings peace, justice, and love to our world, the world that Jesus envisioned and lived for, and that we as his followers, continue to work for. As our closing song says, “Give us the will to dream as we prepare the way”, so let us “Come, come to the Heart of Love”.
Statement of Faith
We believe in the Holy One, a divine mystery
beyond all definition and rational understanding,
the heart of all that has ever existed,
that exists now, or that ever will exist.
We believe in Jesus, messenger of the Divine Word,
bringer of healing, heart of Divine compassion,
bright star in the firmament of the Holy One's
prophets, mystics, and saints.
We believe that We are called to follow Jesus
as a vehicle of divine love,
a source of wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of peace in the world.
We believe in the Spirit of the Holy One,
the life that is our innermost life,
the breath moving in our being,
the depth living in each of us.
We believe that the Divine kin-dom is here and now,
stretched out all around us for those
with eyes to see it, hearts to receive it,
and hands to make it happen.
Prayers of the Community
As we prepare for this sacred meal we are aware that just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. As bearers of LIGHT and HOPE, we bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns. Please feel free to voice your intentions beginning with the words, “I bring to the table…..”
We pray for these our blessings, cares, and concerns and bring them to our table of friendship and love. Amen.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
With open hearts and hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer as one voice:
(written by Jay Murnane)
All: Source of All That Is, we seek you in this season, when the earth is resting and preparing for new life. Like the earth, we long for new life and hopeful beginnings. This is the time of the pregnant woman, filled with life and hope powerful enough to topple structures of oppression. This is the time of her song of fidelity and celebration.
During this gentle season of Advent, we recognize that you have made us capable of bringing forth justice, like a rising sun. One with all who have gone before us, we sing a song of praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy Music by John Bacchus Dykes, Words by Peter Mayer video by Denise
We thank you for those in times past who believed the good news, and lived what they believed.
Blessed is Isaiah and every visionary who insisted on a better future that would break through the deception, disaster and broken promises of the age in which they lived.
Blessed is John, in the stark desert of careful focus, inviting the people to be born again in your love.
Blessed is Miriam, who believed the words of Isaiah and opened herself up to the unbelievable.
And blessed is her child Jesus, who felt the sorrows of humankind in his soul, and responded with deep and tender compassion.
Please extend your hands in blessing.
All: We are grateful for your Spirit at our Eucharistic Table and for this bread and wine which reminds us of our call to be the body of Christ in the world.
All.: On the night before he faced his own death, Jesus sat at supper with his companions and friends. He reminded them of all that he taught them, and to fix that memory clearly with them, he bent down and washed their feet.
All lift their plates and pray the following:
When he returned to his place at the table, he spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat, the bread of life for all who hunger for justice and peace.
After the meal, he then raised the cup of blessing poured in a spirit of solidarity and empowerment, spoke the grace, and offered them the wine saying:
Take and drink the Cup of Compassion for a broken world.
Whenever you remember me like this, I am among you.
(pause)
What we have heard with our ears, we will live with our lives. As we share communion, we become communion, both Love’s nourishment and love’s challenge.
Please receive the bread and cup with the words, we are bearers of light and hope.
Communion Meditation/Song: ‘Cause We Live for Love by Miriam Makeba
https://youtu.be/ayrGL9cmapE?si=IVlqhHTaUJnb8Oeg
Prayer after communion
Holy One, we are grateful for the gift of Your Spirit, always drawing beauty and balance out of chaos. And like Jesus…
Standing where he stood,
and for what he stood,
and with whom he stood,
we are united in your Spirit,
and worship you with our lives, Amen.
Let us pray as Jesus taught us:
Holy One, you are within, around and among us.
We celebrate your many names.
Your wisdom come; your will be done,
unfolding from the depths within us.
Each day you give us all that we need.
You remind us of our limits and we let go.
You support us in our power, and we act with courage.
For you are the dwelling place within us,
the empowerment around us,
and the celebration among us,
now and forever, Amen.
Adapted by Miriam Therese Winter
BLESSING
Please extend your hands and pray our blessing together:
May the light shining in this liturgical moment permeate our spirits as we go about our ordinary lives this week over the darkness of cruelty and aggression that seeks to be the new norm. May our hearts be open to spread that light and love to all whom we encounter.
All: AMEN
Closing Song: The Will to Dream by Illustrated Ministry
https://youtu.be/9Z6hZvyMQnM?si=9woTRFWVhvQxI4G4
THE WILL TO LIVE BY ILLUSTRATED MINISTRY
VERSE 1
How long will the poor be hungry
How long will the babies cry
How long will the people weep
For the trees are gone and the wells run dry
The wells run dry
PRE-CHORUS
There’s work in the waiting
CHORUS
Give us the will to dream, the will to dream
Give us the will to dream
Give us the will to dream, the will to dream
Give us the will to dream as we prepare the way.
VERSE 2
How long have we held a promise
Held a promise to be kept
To bring down the proud and mighty
And make sure every belly’s fed
Make sure every belly’s fed
(PRE-CHORUS)
There’s work in the waiting
(CHORUS)
Give us the will to dream, the will to dream
Give us the will to dream
Give us the will to dream, the will to dream
Give us the will to dream as we prepare the way.
BRIDGE (3x)
There’s work in the waiting
Longin’ for the things of love
Livin’ from our longing
Preparing for the One
VERSE 3
Holy one, you never left us
Never turned your face away
We turn to you to help us dream
Of kin(g)dom come to us today
CHORUS
Give us the will to dream, the will to dream
Give us the will to dream
Give us the will to dream, the will to dream
Give us the will to dream as we prepare the way
Give us the will to dream as we prepare the way
© 2025 Illustrated Ministry, LLC. All rights reserved. illustratedministry.com
Used with permission
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