ALL:Watch and wait for Christ’s coming!Light candles of hope, peace, love, joy and lightremembering the promise of God with prayer.We light this candle in HOPE…We light this candle for PEACE…We light this candle with LOVE…We light this candle in JOY…And We light this candle to celebrate the LIGHT of Jesus that has comeinto the world!

READER #1:

Hear the Word of the Lord from Isaiah 9…

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;Those who have lived in a land of darkness – on them light has shined.

READER #2:And from the gospel of John, chapter 1…In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

READER #1:

There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify about that light, so that through Him all might believe. He himself was NOT the light; he came only as a witness TO the light.

READER #2:The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, but the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who DID receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God…

READER #1:

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

ALL:Heavenly Father, we thank You for all that You have provided for us and reminded us of this Advent season. We thank You for the hope we have in Jesus, both now and forever. We thank You for His peace, so graciously given. We thank You for the unconditional love He brings us, allowing us to be adopted as Your sons and daughters. We thank you for the joy that comes from knowing and following You, through Jesus as our Rescuer and King.

ALL:And tonight, we thank You most of all for the light and life that Jesus alone brings into the darkness of our broken, sinful world. May the power of Your light shine into every crack and crevice of our hearts, minds and lives, revealing all that needs to be removed, and illuminating the truth of who You are and who You’ve made and called us to be.We pray these things in the name of Jesus,our Light…Amen.