Peace be within your walls…
Psalm 122:7
I must confess that while I know the Christmas season begins afterThanksgiving, this was not from my knowledge of the liturgi calcalendar. Instead, the season began for me each year seeing festived is plays of Santa Claus through the windows of the shopping center, watching my neighborhood slowly become illuminated with green andred Christmas lights, and noting that Home Depot was now starting to sell Christmas trees. If you had asked me a few months ago what I thought Advent meant, unfortunately, I probably wouldn't have been able to tell you. In the church of my youth, I don't remember learning about Advent as a special time of waiting.
So I was in for a new experience discovering Advent through a beautiful liturgy filled with jubilant music and the lighting of Advent candles.The candles represent Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love—four symphonies of the heart that I feel are, by their nature, an essential message of the Christmas season.
In my church, as we lit our first candle that was sitting on the pulpit, we sang the first verse of the hymn "One Candle is Lit," from the Chalice Hymnal. The first verse goes like this: "Come surely, Lord Jesus, as dawn follows night, our hearts long to greet you, as roses, the light. Salvation,draw near us, our vision engage." The singing drew peace within ourwalls, and ushered in… Advent.
-Esther Lee
God of Light, turn our meditations to the coming of your presencewith us, inscribing Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love on our hearts.
I must confess that while I know the Christmas season begins afterThanksgiving, this was not from my knowledge of the liturgi calcalendar. Instead, the season began for me each year seeing festived is plays of Santa Claus through the windows of the shopping center, watching my neighborhood slowly become illuminated with green andred Christmas lights, and noting that Home Depot was now starting to sell Christmas trees. If you had asked me a few months ago what I thought Advent meant, unfortunately, I probably wouldn't have been able to tell you. In the church of my youth, I don't remember learning about Advent as a special time of waiting.
So I was in for a new experience discovering Advent through a beautiful liturgy filled with jubilant music and the lighting of Advent candles.The candles represent Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love—four symphonies of the heart that I feel are, by their nature, an essential message of the Christmas season.
In my church, as we lit our first candle that was sitting on the pulpit, we sang the first verse of the hymn "One Candle is Lit," from the Chalice Hymnal. The first verse goes like this: "Come surely, Lord Jesus, as dawn follows night, our hearts long to greet you, as roses, the light. Salvation,draw near us, our vision engage." The singing drew peace within ourwalls, and ushered in… Advent.
-Esther Lee
God of Light, turn our meditations to the coming of your presencewith us, inscribing Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love on our hearts.
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