© Kathryn M. Schreiber, 2018 * Year C – Revised Common Lectionary
Please note: “Seeing in the Dark” content is currently in production. Content will release in 2021.
CONTENTS
4-Sunday Morning Services, 1-Christmas Eve Service as Script, Introduction
NOTE: Additional content will be available separately: “Soothing Sanctuary Service” and “Seeing in the Dark Journal” and “Seeing in the Dark Coloring Sheets/Bulletin Covers”
Our newest Advent series, inspired by Wendell Berry’s poem “To Know the Dark,” offers scripture and contemporary writings which suggest how to perceive sacred information during challenging conditions – be they personal, filial, communal, national, or global. This series invites us to “Keep Awake” to the wondrous ways God is still speaking – inviting everyone to hope, justice, compassion, joy and wonder.
Each service contains scripture notation/s, contemporary reading/s, Advent/Christ Candle ritual, prayers, Children’s Time and sermon reflections, suggestions for worship music, and decoration ideas (details below). Content is delivered via emailed PDF files. WORD documents are available to Public Use subscribers for ease in creating production media. During the 2018-9 holiday season follow our FB page “Living Liturgies” for related content.
1st Sunday of Advent “Seeing in the Dark: Be-Open” (Worship Service includes Holy Communion) Scripture: Luke 21:25-36 “Fig Tree Hope” and a reading from Stephanie Kaza on being attentive to nature. Being alert to God’s latest sprouts requires a new way of paying attention and of being willing to experience temporary discomfort in order to find a new way to sustainable curiosity and hope.
2nd Sunday of Advent “Seeing the Dark: Be-Free” (Worship Service) Scripture: Luke 3:1-6 “Liberation Invitation” and a reading from Kenneth Leech on spiritual practices for entering the unknown on the way to a deeper sense of the holy. Mystics have always called us forward by first asking that we go deep and examine our own motives. From this compassionate humility, we move a bit closer to our true identity.
3rd Sunday of Advent “Seeing the Dark: Be–Honest” (Worship Service) Scripture: Luke 3:7-18 “Correcting Balance” and a reading from Wayne Mueller about truing ourselves, listening to the voice of our souls. God needs us to release our excess that others might have the essentials. The justice we ask of God is often the justice God asks of us. Are we willing to shift our own practices to manifest the right relations we desire for others?
4th Sunday of Advent “Seeing the Dark: Be-Friend” (Worship Service) Scripture: Luke 1:39-45 “Joyful Wombs” and readings from Clarissa Pinkola Estes and Joyce Rupp describe the fruitfulness of dark cave times and the power of supportive friends. As the blessed “What-Is-Being-Born” grows, we are invited to make new alliances with those people who hear what we hear from God. These new connections may take us away from the familiar, yet closer to God.
Christmas Eve “Seeing the Dark: Be–Hold” (Worship Service Script) Scripture: Isaiah 9:2-7 “Isaiah’s Prediction” and Luke 2:1-20 “Shepherd’s Adoration” passages woven together. This Christmas Eve celebration of the re-birth of Christ takes place among night-workers whose eyes and ears are open to God’s presence in the most unlikely of places, in the most unlikely of times. Who are today’s shunned shepherds? Who is hearing the angels sing today? Can we join them outside in the dark to behold the latest manifestation of Christ?
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Delivery
PDF content will be sent via email upon deposit confirmation. WORD content is available for production purposes only; please request when placing your order. Please note: “Seeing in the Dark” content is still in production. Hopefully, content will release in 2021. Thank you for your patience & God Bless!
in the big love 