We do yearn so fiercely for peace, for justice, for healing of creation, for healing of our lives. We do yearn so fiercely for restoration of all creation, for joy, for a new world to be born.
Advent is a time of holding on, in the midst of yearning, in the midst of the unknown. Advent is a time of going forward, because we have each other, and the promises of God that life is triumphant, love is real, and we are stronger and more courageous than we think.
We are an Advent people. We are an Advent church. We are living in waiting for something, yearning for something, facing an unknown future. We proclaim hope, we yearn for peace, we still find occasions for joy, and we live as lovers of all God’s creation.
This is what Advent for a New Creation proclaims in its worship pieces, in its song, and in its candle lighting ritual. The song is designed to be used each week in Advent, and its middle verse is different each week. The pieces here are both deeply serious, and often playful. They focus on the power of community, and the call to justice and the healing of all creation. It acknowledges lament and confession, care for ourselves, each other, and all God’s world. We are called to build up a new world, one of justice, peace, clean air, clean water, a future for our children, biological diversity – and joy. It is possible!
The entire document, covering all four weeks of Advent, is in a PDF file.
Allyson,
I love your Advent for a New creation Liturgies. It offers a wider and contextual perspective to reflect on during the season and invite us to a faithful and active prayer for the Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love for all of creation. I also love your re-writing of Come Thou Expected Jesus that becomes “Come Thou Un-Expected Jesus!”
Thanks for the sharing of your creative gifts!
Paz,
Allyson, The way this acknowledges so many aspects of what to be reverent about is beautiful.
Thanks for your writing and for your perspective!
I missed weeks 1&2 but so enjoyed and appreciated your beautiful way with words and sense of humor in exploring Joy and Love in weeks 3 & 4 of Advent. Wow, so much to savor, re-read and ponder here!
The following particularly spoke to me:
“This holy season of love calls us to co-create and move towards God’s new creation. It will not be handed to us, a brightly-wrapped gift, but will emerge from the womb of our hard work and tears, our lament and our courage, our tenacity and our laughter.”
Thank you, Allyson.
Allyson has a wonderful gift with words, but a special skill in pulling me away and causing me to re-examine the words I have said by rote for decades. I found more meaning in this Advent worship than I ever have.
In her Advent for a New Creation, I find tears in my eyes when I read: “We are an Advent people. We are an Advent church. We are living in waiting for something, yearning for something, facing an unknown future. We proclaim hope, we yearn for peace, we still find occasions for joy, and we live as lovers of all God’s creation.”
As Allyson tells us, what follows for four weeks is “both deeply serious, and often playful. They focus on the power of community, and the call to justice and the healing of all creation.”