Welcome
Bring your family’s Advent wreath to the center of your gathering. Make sure you have matches or a lighter.
One: Our first week we lit the Advent candle that invited us to wait during this special season.
(light the first Advent candle)
Our second week we lit the Advent candle that invited us to prepare for the coming of Jesus.
All: Emmanuel, God with us.
(light the second Advent candle from last week)
One: Our circle reminds us of God’s unending love and presence.
All: Emmanuel, God with us.
One: The evergreens to remind us the hope we find in Jesus eternal.
All: Emmanuel, God with us.
One: The four candles mark the four weeks of joy and anticipation as we wait for the babe in the manger and the coming of Christ again.
All: Emmanuel, God with us.
One: The candles remind us that Jesus is the light of the world.
All: Emmanuel, God with us.
One: Four candles are blue or purple as a reminder to prepare for Jesus’ coming.
All: Emmanuel, God with us.
One: One candle is white, in the center of our wreath, a symbol for the purity of Jesus.
All: Emmanuel, God with us.
One: Today we light the third candle as we hope for the coming of Jesus our Messiah, Savior and …
All: Emmanuel, God with us.
(light the third candle)
God sightings and prayer offerings
Invite each person to share where they saw or experienced God this week. Invite each person to share something — a person, community, experience, event, etc. – for which they want to offer prayer.
Good and gracious God, we thank you for all the ways you were and are present in our lives and in the world. [Invite each person to say aloud the sighting they named earlier.] We bring our prayers to you, prayers for… [invite each person to say aloud the prayer need they named earlier]. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.
Connecting with Scripture: Isaiah 61:1-4 and 8-11
Read the Scripture aloud the first time using the New Revised Standard Version or the Common English Bible.
For the second reading of the text, invite those gathered to depict with their body the all the places and contexts in which the Spirit of Lord is being sent in today’s text.
Connecting through story
Watch this movie trailer for “Just Mercy” based on the true story of Walter McMillian and Bryan Stevenson.
- Where do you hear the themes of the Scripture in this movie trailer?
- Why would a people yearn for justice and mercy?
- Where was hope in this clip?
Connecting with our lives
Engage in dialogue:
- In the contexts you depicted with your body during the second reading of today’s Scripture, what was the hope expressed?
- When you listen to this text:
- What questions arise?
- What concerns emerge?
- Where do you hear hope?
- In today’s Scripture, who is the:
- Oppressed?
- Brokenhearted?
- Captive?
- Prisoners?
- Why does the Spirit come, and what does the Spirit come to do?
- Why does the Lord love justice?
- How is God’s vision for humanity different than our reality?
- What is our responsibility in bringing God’s vision and the world’s reality closer together?
- What gives us the strength to do this important work?
- Read Luke 4:16-22. Where did Jesus get the words he said?
- Why would Jesus say them in the beginning of his public ministry?
- Why would this passage be a part of the Advent Scriptures?
- For what are we hoping?
- Why is hope so important?
- What is the source of our hope?
Teaching points that can be incorporated into your discussion:
- Today’s Scripture is from the third part of the book Isaiah and is written in its original context to a people returning from exile. It was a theological identity crisis they believed was brought on because of their failure to keep their covenant with God — to worship only God and to do justice. They were taken away from the tangible reminders of their relationship with God: the Promised Land, the temple where they worshipped and Jerusalem. This text brings a word of hope to a people yearning for a savior.
- We read this text through the lens of Christianity.
- In Luke’s Gospel Jesus stands up at the beginning of his public ministry and presents his mission statement. He uses the very words of today’s passage to outline his audience, his core values and the priorities for his ministry. He invites us to join with him in this transformational undertaking.
- As it is with Advent, “hope” is active engagement. It is not a passive, “I hope someone [God?] will do this for me.” St. Augustine said: “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” One might say the same thing about Christian hope.
- Christian hope is different than simply being optimistic. Optimism implies looking on the “bright side of things” even when there is evil, injustice and destruction present. Christian hope recognizes human propensity to evil, injustice and destruction in our world, our relationships and ourselves but knows and trusts that God’s love and justice are greater.
The book, “Just Mercy,” by Bryan Stevenson and the movie adaptation tells a powerful story. You are urged to find time this week to watch it as a family. (If there are children in your family, please watch the movie yourself first to determine if you think it is age-appropriate.) If you do decide to watch it, read the Isaiah text again before your start and feel free to use the following questions to being your conversation.
In this film:
- Who is captive?
- Who is blind?
- Who is oppressed?
- Who is broken hearted?
- What is just?
- What is mercy?
- What does it mean to release the prisoners and let the captives free?
- Where do you see hope?
- Where and what is the good news the Lord sends and through whom?
In our world today:
- Who is captive?
- Who is blind?
- Who is oppressed?
- Who is brokenhearted?
- What is just?
- What is mercy?
- What does it mean to release the prisoners and let the captives free?
- Where do you see hope?
- Where and what is the good news the Lord sends and through whom?
- What is the good news of Jesus Christ you are to bring into the world and why is it needed?
Prayer
Close your time together by praying for one another, your neighbor, community and the world. Extinguish the candle.
REBECCA DAVIS is the associate professor of Christian education at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. A teaching elder and certified educator, she served congregations for over 20 years before moving into academic teaching. In addition to teaching and mentoring students, her passion is child advocacy and ministry.
