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 reminded us of God’s promises during this special season.
(light the candle from the first week)
Our second week we lit the Advent candle that invited us to proclaim the coming of Jesus.
(light the candle from the second week)
Our third week we lit the Advent candle that invited us to praise God for the coming of Jesus our Messiah, Savior and…
(light the candle for the third week)
Our fourth week we lit the Advent calendar that invited us to rejoice in knowing
All: Emmanuel, God with us.
(light the candle from the fourth 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 is eternal.
All: Emmanuel, God with us.
One: The four candles mark the four weeks of joy and anticipation as we ready our hearts and lives 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: Tonight, we light the center candle and give thanks for the love of God made known to us in
All: Emmanuel, God with us.
(light the center 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 — Colossians 3:12-17
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 listen for the ways in which we can live like the Christ child lived.
Connecting through story
Watch and listen to the book The Message of the Birds.
- Why do you think the people quit listening to the song the birds sang from the stable?
- Why do you think they chose to sing their song again to children?
Connecting with our lives
Engage in dialogue
- How does this passage ask us to live?
- What things are difficult and why?
- What things are easy and why?
- How are these expectations similar or different than the world’s expectations?
- How do these actions reflect who Jesus is?
- Where in your life do you live this passage?
- What is peace?
- How does the way of living outlined in today’s text reflect or bring about peace?
- Why is peace important to God in Christ?
- Why is peace important to the world?
- Why is peace important in our lives?
- In what ways do you work for peace?
Teaching points that can be incorporated into your discussion
- As we begin the process of taking down the Christmas decorations and putting away the presents we received, we must remember that the true gift of Christmas must never be stored in an attic or shut away in a drawer only to be brought out occasionally. The birth of Christ, and his living presence in the world and in our lives, calls forth a change in us — a radical departure from the world’s weary ways. His advent and his return reorient our priorities so that they reflect his priorities and reorder our actions so that our lives align with Christ’s.
- In the second chapter of Colossians, the author references baptism as the defining moment for Christians when the “old way” or the “world’s ways” are washed away. Here, in the third chapter, we are reminded we are to put on new clothes — to clothe ourselves in that which represents the distinctiveness of those who follow Christ. We are to remember that God chose to come to us in human form and God chose to be in relationship with us. This is life-changing — to be chosen by God is to be forever changed and to embody that transformation in the ways we engage with one another and in the world.
- Today’s text lifts up a familiar Advent and Christmas theme of “peace.” Christ takes on the mantle of names ascribed to the coming Messiah in Isaiah, including the Prince of Peace. In the Gospel of Luke, the angels and the heavenly host sing of God’s glory and peace on earth. In fact, Luke’s gospel has more references to peace than all the other three gospels combined. Peace is a valued virtue, goal and practice among those who follow Christ.
- Peace, however, is more than the absence of war or conflict. Peace is the core of what God wants for human relationships. It is established not by human action but by God’s action of Christ’s advent into the world. However, it is human responsibility to sustain this peace and to live in ways that promote and maintain it. Peace, however, is not a stand-alone concept. Peace is directly related to, and not possible without, love or justice. In Hebrew, the word for peace is shalom and has many meanings including complete well-being and wholeness. Peace in Biblical Greek is eirene and reflects a settled-ness of soul because one is reconciled with God.
- At the end of today’s children’s book, there is a word cloud that includes various ways in which “peace” appears in many different languages. Note the pronunciations and language designations.
Listen, and sing along, with “Let There Be Peace on Earth” by Jill Jackson and Sy Miller.
Prayer
Close your time together by praying for one another, your neighbor, community and the world. Extinguish the candles.
