A BRIEF ORDER FOR
FAMILY DEVOTIONS*
for each day in Advent
(Advent begins each year on the Sunday nearest to Nov. 30th.a)
The First Week of Advent
The Second Week of Advent
The Third Week of Advent
The Fourth Week of Advent
A Reading and a Prayer for Christmas
The First Week of Advent
INVOCATION
The sign of the cross may be made in remembrance of Holy Baptismb.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
The Spirit and the Church cry out:
Come, Lord Jesus.
All those who await His appearance pray:
Come, Lord Jesus.
The whole creation pleads:
Come, Lord Jesus.
ADVENT HYMN
The appropriate candle(s) on the family Advent wreathc
may be lit as the following stanza is sung:
Savior of the nations, come,
Show yourself the virgin's son.
Marvel, heaven, wonder, earth,
That our God chose such a birth.
No man's pow'r of mind or blood
But the Spirit of our God
Made the Word of God be flesh,
Woman's offspring, pure and fresh. (LSB 332/LW 13/TLH
95)
PRAYER OF THE WEEK
Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come, that by Your protection we may be
rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and saved by Your mighty
deliverance; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.
READING FROM SCRIPTURE
One of the following readings may be read, or another reading appointed
to go with an Advent devotional booklet may be read instead. Discussion
may follow.
Sunday—Luke
21:25-36 (or the Gospel reading appointed for the
Sunday)
READING FROM A DEVOTIONAL BOOKLET
Someone may read from an Advent devotional booklet (example), or another Advent
activity may be done. Discussion may follow.
PRAYERS
Special prayers may be offered by the leader or by others in the family
as
appropriate. The prayers conclude with the Lord’s Prayerd.
BLESSING
The Lord Almighty order our days and our deeds in His peace.
Amen.
The Second Week of Advent
INVOCATION
The sign of the cross may be made in remembrance of Holy Baptismb.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
The Spirit and the Church cry out:
Come, Lord Jesus.
All those who await His appearance pray:
Come, Lord Jesus.
The whole creation pleads:
Come, Lord Jesus.
ADVENT HYMN
The appropriate candle(s) on the family Advent wreathc
may be lit as the following stanza is sung:
Hark the glad sound! The Savior comes,
The Savior promised long;
Let ev'ry heart prepare a throne
And ev'ry voice a song.
He comes the pris'ners to release,
In Satan's bondage held.
The gates of brass before him burst,
The iron fetters yield. (LSB 349/LW 29;
TLH 66)
PRAYER OF THE WEEK
Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of Your only-begotten
Son, that at His second coming we may worship Him in purity; through the
same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
READING FROM SCRIPTURE
One of the following readings may be read, or another reading appointed
to go with an Advent devotional booklet may be read instead. Discussion
may follow.
Sunday—Luke
3:1-6 (or the Gospel reading appointed for the Sunday)
READING FROM A DEVOTIONAL BOOKLET
Someone may read from an Advent devotional booklet (example), or another Advent
activity may be done. Discussion may follow.
PRAYERS
Special prayers may be offered by the leader or by others in the family
as
appropriate. The prayers conclude with the Lord’s Prayerd.
BLESSING
The Lord Almighty order our days and our deeds in His peace.
Amen.
The Third Week of Advent
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Praying the Great “O Antiphons” of Advent
The seven “O” Antiphons of Advent are ancient prayers (8th century)
prayed throughout the world from Dec. 17–24. Each petition focuses on a
biblical title given to Christ and asks Him to come and fulfill a scriptural
promise or prophecy. Found in Lutheran Worship, pp. 288-289, these
prayers may be used on the appropriate days immediately before the Advent Hymn.
The seven stanzas of the hymn, “Oh, Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel” (Lutheran
Worship #31 [text
/tune])
were patterned after these prayers and may be used with these devotions
as well.
[Read/Print "O Antiphons"
with explanation or with hymn text in PDF.]
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INVOCATION
The sign of the cross may be made in remembrance of Holy Baptismb.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
(The appropriate “O Antiphon” may be
prayed beforethe Advent Hymn on the day corresponding to its traditional
use.)
ADVENT HYMN
The appropriate candle(s) on the family Advent wreathc
may be lit as the following stanza is sung:
Arise, sons of the Kingdom!
The King is drawing night;
Arise and hail with gladness
the Ruler from on high.
Ye Christians, hasten forth!
Your praise and homage bring Him
And glad hosannas sing Him;
Naught else your love is worth. (LSB 354/LW 25;
TLH 69)
PRAYER OF THE WEEK
Almighty God, through John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, you once
proclaimed salvation; now grant that we may know this salvation and
serve you in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives; through
Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.
READING FROM SCRIPTURE
One of the following readings may be read, or another reading appointed
to go with an Advent devotional booklet may be read instead. Discussion
may follow.
Sunday—Luke
3:7-18 (or the Gospel reading appointed for the Sunday)
READING FROM A DEVOTIONAL BOOKLET
Someone may read from an Advent devotional booklet (example), or another Advent
activity may be done. Discussion may follow.
PRAYERS
Special prayers may be offered by the leader or by others in the family
as appropriate. The prayers conclude with the Lord’s Prayerd.
BLESSING
The Lord Almighty order our days and our deeds in His peace.
Amen.
The Fourth Week of Advent
INVOCATION
The sign of the cross may be made in remembrance of Holy Baptismb.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
(The appropriate “O Antiphon” may be
prayed beforethe Advent Hymn on the day corresponding to its traditional
use.)
ADVENT HYMN
The appropriate candle(s) on the family Advent wreathc
may be lit as the following stanza is sung:
Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel,
And ransome captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel! (LSB 357/LW 31;
TLH 62)
PRAYER OF WEEK
Days leading up to Christmas Eve
Stir up your power, O Lord, and come among us with great might, that the
sins which weigh us down may quickly be lifted by your grace and mercy;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
Christmas Eve (Dec. 24th)
O God, because You once caused this Holy night to shine with the brightness
of the true Light, grant that we who have known the mystery of that Light
here on earth may come to the full measure of its joys in heaven; through
Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.
READING FROM SCRIPTURE
One of the following readings may be read (skipping ahead to the appointed
reading for Christmas Eve on Dec. 24th), or another reading
appointed to go with an Advent devotional booklet may be read instead.
Discussion may follow.
Sunday—Luke
1:39-55 (or the Gospel reading appointed for the Sunday)
Christmas Eve—Zechariah
2:10-13
READING FROM A DEVOTIONAL BOOKLET
Someone may read from an Advent devotional booklet (example), or another Advent
activity may be done. Discussion may follow.
PRAYERS
Special prayers may be offered by the leader or by others in the family
as appropriate. The prayers conclude with the Lord’s Prayerd.
BLESSING
The Lord Almighty order our days and our deeds in His peace.
Amen.
A Scripture Reading for Christmas, Dec. 25
John
1:1-18
A Prayer for Christmas, Dec. 25
O God, as Your make us glad by the yearly festival of the birth of Your
only-begotten Son Jesus Christ, grant that we, who joyfully receive Him
as our Redeemer, may with sure confidence behold Him when He comes to be
our judge, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God,
now and forever.
Amen.
CREDIT AND COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
A Brief Order for Family Devotions for each day in
Advent has been prepared by the Rev. David Milette, pastor of Good
Shepherd Lutheran Church, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, and is based
in part on A Brief Order for Family Devotions—Advent 2002, ©
2002, and on the Readings for Daily Prayer from Lutheran Worship:
Altar Book, © 1982, both by The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
Hymn stanzas and liturgical materials from Lutheran Worship, copyright
© 1982 by Concordia Publishing House. Commercial reproduction, or
reproduction for sale of this work or any portion of this work, without
the written permission of the copyright holder, is prohibited. All
of these materials have been made availble for congregational use only,
which is taken to include the above use.
A PDF version of this document, suitable for printing
on two sides of a legal sized (8.5x14) page, is available at:
http://www.GoodShepherd.nb.ca/Seasonal/Advent/AdventDevotions-Isaiah.pdf.
Music links are to documents available at http://www.lutheran-hymnal.com;
all content at that site are either in the public domain or copyright Rev.
Richard Jordan, links provided for reference only.
Links to Biblical texts are from the
Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), provided through http://www.gospelcom.net
for reference only.
OTHER LINKS
a To find out the dates of the specific
Sundays of Advent in the current year,
please consult the "Year At A Glance"
website (yaag.org). This resrouce will also provide a list of Sunday
Bible readings for the whole year "at a glance".
b A
short explanation of Holy Baptism is
from Luther's Small Catechism, as found at http://www.BookOfConcord.org.
c A "flameless" advent wreath
may be made out of paper by following the simple
instructions, provided by http://www.first-school.ws.
(The rest of the content at this site does not necessarily reflect the
teachings of the Bible as found in the Lutheran Church.)
d The Lord's Prayer (also known as the
"Our Father"), is the prayer that our Lord
Jesus gave to His disciples to pray (Matt
6:9-13; Luke
11:2-4) as both a command and a promise. The traditional text, as used
throughout the English speaking world, is as follows:
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily
bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the
glory forever and ever.
Amen.
That we may not simply "heap up empty phrases" as our
Lord forwarns us (Matt 6:7), a simple,
biblical explanation of each of the parts of this prayer may be of
benefit (from Luther's
Small Catechism).
Updated November 30, 2008.
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