A Liturgy for the Wrapping of Christmas Gifts
by Wayne Garvey and Douglas McKelvey
O Great Giver of All Good Gifts,
I sit amongst rolls of wrapping paper,
tissue, bags, and bows—presents spread before
me, ready to be concealed in shrouds of joyful
mystery, and nestled for a time beneath the tree.
This brief veiling of gifts from
the wondering eyes of those
who will receive them
is an act intended to heighten
excitement, and to kindle hopes—hopes
that might find fulfillment when these
festive secrets are finally revealed.
There is always in us that
which delights in surprise.
And while these gifts might provide a passing
happiness, I pray they would also stir the
hearts of their recipients in some deeper way,
as small echoes of a greater grace.
For you first lavished upon us your
astonishing love in the person of Jesus.
You wrapped your gift, O God,
in the form of a baby. And then,
in that baby-become-man, you
unveiled glory upon glory:
Miracles. Marvelous words.
Deeds of compassion and mercy.
Strong promises. Death defeated.
Life eternal.
The revelation of yourself as a dear father,
longing to adopt us orphans as daughters and
sons! Indeed “We love, because God first
loved us!” In our giving of Christmas gifts
we but seek to imitate your generosity.
So let our stumbling attempts
to mirror the eternal charities of
your own lavish heart, be undertaken
in a spirit of glad celebration
and as an act of worship.
Christ, you are the gift of God who gave all,
gives all, is all. So let these my small presents
be offered in great love, and received as
humble expressions of a holy hospitality,
and reminders of a divine kindness.
HERE THE READER MAY WISH TO PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR EACH LOVED ONE AS THEIR GIFT IS WRAPPED.
Now may the lives of all your children be
ever more marked by a loving generosity
manifest in daily acts of practical service
to others, O Lord.
And may my own heart in particular
be kept less and less like a wrapped
and sealed mystery,
but be freely offered instead
as an open gift through which
the radiant love of Christ
is made ever more visible.
Amen.
A Liturgy for Missing Someone (Advent Version)
by Douglas McKelvey
ALL STANDING AS ABLE, WITH EMPTY HANDS CUPPED.
LEADER:
We willingly carry this ache.
PEOPLE:
We carry it, O Father, to you.
PARTICIPANTS NOW SIT OR KNEEL IN A CIRCLE.
You created our hearts for unbroken fellowship.
Yet the constraints of time and place, and the
stuttering rhythms of life in a fallen world
dictate that all fellowships in these days
will at times be broken or incomplete.
And so we find ourselves in this season,
bearing the sorrow of our separation from ___________.
S P E A K T H E N A M E O F T H E A B S E N T P E R S O N H E R E .
F O R A DV E N T O B S E RVA N C E , S P E A K T H E NAME OF JESUS.
We acknowledge, O Lord, that it is
a right and a good thing to miss deeply
those whom we love but with whom
we cannot be physically present.
Grant us, therefore, courage to love well
even in this time of absence.
Grant us courage to shrink neither from
the aches nor from the joys that love brings,
for each, willingly received, will accomplish
the good works you have appointed them to do.
Therefore we praise you even for our sadness,
knowing that the sorrows we steward in this life
will in time be redeemed.
We praise you also knowing that these glad aches
are a true measure of the bonds
you have wrought between our hearts.
Now use our sorrows as tools in your hand,
O Lord, shaping our hearts into a truer
imitation of the affections of Christ.
Use even this sadness to carve out spaces
in our souls where still greater repositories
of holy affection might be held,
unto the end that we might better love,
in times of absence and in times of
presence alike.
We now entrust all to your keeping.
May our reunion be joyous, whether in this life
or in the life to come.
How we look forward, O Lord, to the day
when all our fellowships will be restored,
eternal and unbroken.
T H E F O L LOW I N G S EC T I O N M AY B E A D D E D D U R I N G
THE FIRST & SECOND WEEKS OF ADVENT.
O come, O come, Emmanuel!
Christ our King, how we long for your return.
O come, O come, Emmanuel!
Christ our Shepherd,
how we pine for your voice.
O come, O come, Emmanuel!
Christ our older brother, how we miss you.
Make haste, O Lord. Return to us!
Amen.
T H E F O L LOW I N G S EC T I O N M AY B E A D D E D D U R I N G T H E T H I R D A N D F O U RT H W E E K S O F ADVENT.
Remembering, O Christ, that you regarded our
helpless estate and came to dwell among us
as the promised fulfillment of all holy desires,
we turn our hearts now
to remembrance of your works.
SILENCE IS KEPT.
You came to us, O Lord,
as a lantern in our darkness.
Now illumine our way.
You came to us as a song
in the midst of our sorrow.
Now kindle our hope.
You came to us as a balm
on the bed of our sufferings.
Now be our healing.
You came to us as a shelter
amidst the violence of storms.
Now grant us peace.
You came to us as mercy
in the place of our shame.
Now be our righteousness.
You came to us as a king
upon the fields of our defeat.
Now be our salvation.
You came to us as a child
in the midnight of our despair.
Now be our God.
Remembering these manifold joys
and blessings of your first advent,
how our hearts long to witness
the glories of your promised return.
Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
O come, O come, Emmanuel.
Amen.
A Liturgy to Mark the Start of the Christmas Season
by Douglas McKelvey
LEADER: As we prepare our house for the coming Christmas season,
we would also prepare our hearts for the returning Christ.
PEOPLE: You came once for your people,
O Lord, and you will come for us again.
Though there was no room at the inn
to receive you upon your first arrival,
We would prepare you room
here in our hearts
and here in our home,
Lord Christ.
As we decorate and celebrate, we do so to mark
the memory of your redemptive movement into
our broken world, O God.
Our glittering ornaments and Christmas trees,
Our festive carols, our sumptuous feasts—
By these small tokens we affirm
that something amazing has happened
in time and space—
that God, on a particular night,
in a particular place, so many years ago,
was born to us, an infant King, our Prince of Peace.
Our wreaths and ribbons and colored lights,
our giving of gifts, our parties with friends—
these have never been ends in themselves.
They are but small ways in which we repeat
that sounding joy first proclaimed by angels
in the skies near Bethlehem.
In view of such great tidings of love announced
to us, and to all people, how can we not be moved
to praise and celebration in this Christmas season?
As we decorate our tree, and as we
feast and laugh and sing together,
we are rehearsing our coming joy!
We are making ready to receive the one
who has already, with open arms, received us!
We would prepare you room
here in our hearts
and here in our home,
Lord Christ.
Now we celebrate your first coming, Immanuel,
even as we long for your return.
O Prince of Peace, our elder brother,
return soon. We miss you so!
Amen.
A Liturgy for the Preparation of a Meal
by Wayne Garvey and Douglas McKelvey
LEADER: O Bread of Life,
PEOPLE: Meet us in the making of this meal.
As we perform the various tasks of
washing, chopping, sifting, mixing,
simmering, baking, and boiling,
let those little acts coalesce
into an embodied liturgy of service—
an outworking of love offered
for your purposes,
that through us, your tender care
might be translated into
the comforting and cheery language
of nurturing food and drink
offered for the benefit of others.
Let us invest in this preparation
a lovingkindness toward those
who will partake.
Let us craft this meal with a care
as would befit any endeavor touching eternity.
Meet us in the making of this meal, O Lord,
and make of it something more
than a mere nourishment for the body.
Make it the center of a sheltered space
where grace freely flows.
Let the slow savoring of these foods
give pause to those who will soon partake,
prompting them to linger long at table,
taking rest from the labors of the day,
engaging in good conversation.
Let the comforting qualities
of the dishes we prepare,
become catalysts for a rich
fellowship, a warm consolation,
and a fruitful increase of holy affections.
May this meal serve to remind
those who share its pleasures
of the goodness
and the hope
that infuses all creation.
Unto that end, let us labor creatively,
with imaginations engaged,
knowing that we are cooks
in the kitchen—yes—
but we are also agents of a deep eternity,
whose prepared meals might
feed more than the body,
nourishing also the hearts
and hopes of those sometimes-weary souls who
are well-served by our labors.
Amen.
A Liturgy for Feasting With Friends
by Douglas McKelvey
CELEBRANT: To gather joyfully
is indeed a serious affair,
for feasting and all enjoyments
gratefully taken are,
at their heart, acts of war.
PEOPLE: In celebrating this feast
we declare that
evil and death,
suffering and loss,
sorrow and tears,
will not have the final word.
But the joy of fellowship, and the welcome
and comfort of friends new and old,
and the celebration of these blessings of
food and drink and conversation and laughter
are the true evidences of things eternal,
and are the first fruits of that great glad joy
that is to come and that will be unending.
So let our feast this day be joined
to those sure victories secured by Christ,
Let it be to us now a delight, and a glad
foretaste of his eternal kingdom.
Bless us, O Lord, in this feast.
Bless us, O Lord, as we linger over our cups,
and over this table laden with good things,
as we relish the delights of varied texture
and flavor, of aromas and savory spices,
of dishes prepared as acts of love and blessing,
of sweet delights made sweeter by
the communion of saints.
May this shared meal, and our pleasure in it,
bear witness against the artifice and deceptions
of the prince of the darkness that would blind
this world to hope.
May it strike at the root of the lie that
would drain life of meaning, and
the world of joy, and suffering of redemption.
May this our feast fall like a great hammer blow
against that brittle night,
shattering the gloom, reawakening our hearts,
stirring our imaginations, focusing our vision
on the kingdom of heaven that is to come,
on the kingdom that is promised,
on the kingdom that is already,
indeed, among us,
For the resurrection of all good things
has already joyfully begun.
ALL PARTICIPANTS NOW LIFT THEIR GLASSES OR CUPS
May this feast be an echo of that great
Supper of the Lamb,
a foreshadowing of the great celebration
that awaits the children of God.
Where two or more of us are gathered,
O Lord, there you have promised to be.
And here we are.
And so, here are you.
Take joy, O King, in this our feast.
Take joy, O King!
GLASSES ARE CLINKED WITH CELEBRATORY CHIME, AND PARTICIPANTS IN THE FEAST
SAVOR A DRINK, ADMONISHING ONE ANOTHER HEARTILY WITH THESE SINCERE WORDS:
Take joy!
CELEBRANT: All will be well!
PARTICIPANTS TAKE UP THE CRY:
All will be well!
Nothing good and right and true will be lost forever.
All good things will be restored.
Feast and be reminded! Take joy, little flock.
Take joy! Let battle be joined!
Let battle be joined!
Now you who are loved by the Father,
prepare your hearts and give yourself wholly
to this celebration of joy,
to the glad company of saints,
to the comforting fellowship of the Spirit,
and to the abiding presence of Christ
who is seated among us both as our host
and as our honored guest, and still yet
as our conquering king.
Amen.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
take seat, take feast, take delight!