1st Scripture Reading – Isaiah 7:10-14
Isaiah Gives Ahaz the Sign of Immanuel
10Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying,
11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as
Sheol or high as heaven.”
12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.”
13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals that
you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young
woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel.
2nd Scripture Reading – Luke 3:4-6
4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.
5 Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth,
6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”
Lighting the Advent Candle – ???
Reader 1: In the days of exile and uncertainty, the prophet Isaiah cried out:
O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at
your presence. As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make
your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! For when you
did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled
before you. (Isaiah 64:1-3)
Reader 2: In the midst of our own encounters with uncertainty and upheaval and our longing for
deliverance, Jesus calls to us, “Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the
house will come” (Mark 13:35).
Congregation: We wait as people surprised again and again by God who shakes us out of our
complacency and wakes us up to the work of the kin-dom all around us.
Reader 1: We light this candle as a sign of our shocking hope. May we stay awake to God’s activity in
the world as we wait in expectation that even now God is with us, working to restore us to the fullness
of life with God and one another. Amen.
Light the first candle of the Advent wreath.