Advent liturgy and worship in an age of brevity
It was Christmas Eve and the service was going much quicker than expected. During preparation, I timed it at approximately 60 minutes. But when I glanced at my watch as we approached the final carol, to my horror we were barely 45 minutes into it. With the carol and benediction, we might hit 50 minutes.
Visions of letdown danced in my head.
“What, that’s it?” I imagined some folks thinking. Don’t people expect at least one hour of worship?
No one said anything afterwards. A bit of Yuletide grace, I assumed. In my debriefing with the worship leader, I lamented. She looked puzzled.
“It was fine. Perfect. Not too short at all,” she said.
So how did 60 minutes become the benchmark for minimum service length? I wonder if it’s an urban myth concocted and kept alive by ministers.
Maybe she was also just being nice.
During the next meeting of Session, I apologized. More shaking heads. Nonsense. No one likes a Christmas service which drags on. Folks are eager to get home to family or whatever.
“Never apologize for a short service,” I was told.
Is this a new reality, a ghost of COVID-19 days past when all services were shorter due to being online? A product of a new age of shorter attention spans? It turns out, people in the West never liked long services to begin with.
So how did 60 minutes become the benchmark for minimum service length? I wonder if it’s an urban myth concocted and kept alive by ministers, not known for their brevity.
I no longer lament over shorter worship. If you can make your point in 100 words, why use more?
I no longer lament over shorter worship. Regular Sunday services are now typically 50-60 minutes in my congregation. If you can make your point in 100 words, why use more?
The following are the responsive readings I prepared for my congregation in Advent 2024. They were designed to be read near the beginning of worship. Feel free to change the words to suit your setting or use this as a foundation for your own liturgy – copy and paste and use as the Holy Spirit guides.
Stage notes: the leader could be the minister or anyone in the congregation. I invited a different family each week to light the candle. They were standing with me beside the candelabra when the reading began.
Advent 1 – Hope
Leader: God made a promise to the ancient ones – to Adam, to Abraham, to Judah and to David.
All: From their line, God promised to produce a Saviour.
Leader: God promised to be His father and that He will be His Son.
All: God promised to make his Kingdom strong and secure His royal throne forever.
Leader: Let us light the candle of hope, reflecting the promise.
<candle is lighted>
Leader: Let us pray . . . unscripted prayer as guided by the Holy Spirit
SING – Hope is a Star, Emmanuel Emmanuel
Advent 2 – Peace/reconciliation
Leader: In the face of distress, God promised to send the Prince of Peace.
All: God sent the voice of one calling in the wilderness.
Leader: Prepare the way for the Lord; make a highway for our God.
All: Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all people will see it together.
Leader: For the Lord has spoken. Let us light the candle of peace.
<candle is lighted>
SING – All earth is waiting, Come thou long-expected Jesus, O Come O come Emmanuel
Advent 3 – JOY
Leader: In the face of darkness, God sent a sign: the virgin will give birth
ALL: And He will be called Immanuel – God is with us
Leader: The people who walk in darkness will see a great light.
ALL: For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine. And its people will rejoice.
Leader: Let us light the candle of joy, reflecting the promise.
<candle is lighted>
Leader: Let us pray . . .
SING – People in Darkness, While by our sheep
Advent 4 – Love
Leader: At just the right time, God sent his Son
All: For this is how God loved the world
Leader: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
All: God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Leader: Let us light the candle of love.
<candle is lighted>
Leader: Let us pray . . .
SING – Go tell it on the Mountain, Redeeming love, Once in Royal David’s City
Christmas Eve
Four Advent candles were lighted prior to the service.
Leader: Opening words of welcome and unscripted prayer
SING –Silent Night
Leader: In the beginning was the Creator, the designer, the architect and engineer of creation. The vast universe – each star and planet – came into being. And on one of those planets, he created a vast and complex system of life. And at the centre was human life. All was good. All was perfect. But the goodness that was in everything did not last for long. For there was one thing that God allowed that was a threat to his creation, and it was evil. God loved the world so much that he gave us, his precious children, the ability to choose. Good and evil. God and the enemy. So the goodness that was in everything did not last, because our ancestors often made wrong choices. And the result was a disconnect from the Creator. Instead of harmony, there was discord. Instead of order, there was chaos. Instead of light, there was darkness. But God does not forget his people, those created in his image. The people would have to be patient. They would have to have faith. They lived in hope.
SING – Oh Come, oh come, Emmanuel
Leader: In time, God spoke to the prophets. Isaiah told the people of Judah: “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine” (Isaiah 9:2). God gave Isaiah some specifics. He said “the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us’ ” (Isaiah 7:14). Then God told Isaiah to tell us this: “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!” (Isaiah 9:6-7)
SING – O Holy night
Leader: Several centuries after God’s first promise to Abraham, there followed a never-ending cycle of obedience and disobedience, which resulted in protection, prosperity and blessings followed by times of defiance to God, resulting in destruction, invasion by enemy nations. But God never forgot his precious people. He remembered the promises stated through the prophets. Finally, the time came for God himself to enter creation. At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them. (Luke 2:1-7)
SING – O Little Town of Bethlehem
Leader: That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Saviour—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” 15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger.17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished,19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.
SING –It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
Leader: Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, 2 “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” 3 King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. 4 He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?” 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote: 6 ‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not least among the ruling cities of Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’ ” 7 Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. 8 Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!” 9 After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were filled with joy!11 They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.
SING – The first Nowell
Leader: In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. (Hebrews 1:1-3)
Paul and Timothy describe Jesus the Christ this way: “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. 17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. 18 Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. 19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.” (Colossians 1:15-20)
SING – Hark the herald angels sing
Lighting the Christ candle.
Leader: In the beginning, creation.
People: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things came into being through him, and without him, not one thing came into being” (John 1:1,3).
Leader: In the middle, incarnation.
People: “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us” (John 1.14)
Leader: “Though he was God he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges, he took the humble position of a slave, and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8).
ALL: But now, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died; as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:20, 22).
People: At the end, restoration.
Leader: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth . . . I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. . . I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 21:1-6)
People: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” (Hebrews 13.8)
Leader: In Him, all of history is understood. In His life, we see God’s plan and work unfold.
<The Christ candle is lighted>
Leader: The Christ Candle signifies the true light which came into the world in Jesus Christ. He is hope, peace, joy and love found in God’s righteous reign. He shows us the way.
SING – Joy to the world
Leader: May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, tonight and always. (Philippians 4:7) Go in peace.
