Candle Lighting Liturgy

Reader One: With Love Incarnate growing in her womb, Mary broke out into prophetic song, “[God] has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. He has come to the aid of his child Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever" (Luke 1:51-55 NRSV).

Today, we too join in God’s restoration song, believing in the power of God’s love to transform the world.

Congregation: We lift our voices to God, believing that in an uncertain and unstable world, we are not alone. God is with us. God’s steadfast love works in and among us, forming us as agents of life-giving, world-transforming Love that came to us in the vulnerability of a womb and a manger.

Reader Two: We light this candle as a sign of God’s never-ending, never-failing Love—Love that sings over us a song of restoration and hope that cannot be silenced, Love that persists in fulfilling God’s promise of salvation and flourishing for all creation.

Light the fourth candle of the Advent wreath.