Reader One: “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’” (Psalm 122:1 NRSV)

Reader Two: We are glad. Whether we drove in or climbed up, whether we logged on or tuned in. We are glad to be here in this community, with this family. It is a place of joyful hope, of radical welcome. It is a place where, together, we can wait in wondrous anticipation of the kingdom to come.

Reader One: “Many peoples shall come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that God may teach us God’s ways and that we may walk in Gods paths’” (Isaiah 2:3 NRSV).

Reader Two: We light this candle as a sign of our hope, our joyous hope that we can be restored – our faith restored, our strength restored, our confidence restored, our joy restored as we watch and wait with all God’s people for the promise to be fulfilled.

Light the first candle on the Advent wreath.