A Liturgy for Advent

In September, I got a book I had been wanting for a while. Every Moment Holy Volume1 by Doug McKelvey is a collection of liturgies for ordinary people and situations. There are liturgies for preparing a meal, for students, for the enjoyment of bonfires, for welcoming a new pet, etc. It has been a big encouragement to me and it’s been special to share liturgies with friends as well.

This month, the website has an Advent Journal & Liturgy Writing guide available for free download. It includes the liturgies To Mark the Start of the Christmas Season, For Missing Someone, For a Purposeful Gathering, and For Setting Up a Christmas Tree with response questions. It also has a guide to writing your own intentional liturgies.

I used the guide to write this liturgy, which I will pray each day of advent. If you choose to your write and share your own liturgies, I’d be interested to read them.

Majestic God,
Creator of all things beautiful and holy,
Maker of all that is good, warm, and comforting,
Inventor of all light that shines, dazzles, and shimmers,
We celebrate and worship you this season.

Let us not mistake beauty of decorations for the author of beauty
Or the familiarity of tradition for intimacy with you.
May everything dear about the season
Turn our hearts to you in worship and thankfulness.

You are the author of all that is wonderful
Yet you are well acquainted with much grief, pain, and brokenness
You gave up your radiance to clothe yourself in humble human likeness
With no beauty that we should desire you.
This great emptying is why we now celebrate
Both the beautiful and the simple
The miraculous and the ordinary
In remembering your birth.

Train our hearts to be thankful and delight
In the artfully decorated tree,
The perfected gingerbread cookies,
The excitement of lights, music, and pageantry.

Yet may we remember the lowliness and humility of your birth
And delight in messy, child-made paper chains,
And takeout family meals
And quiet nights spent alone.

May our likeness to you increase, even as you took on our likeness.