Advent Candle Lighting Liturgies for All Four Weeks and Christmas Eve
An Advent candle liturgy is the short reading, response, and prayer said as each candle of the Advent wreath is lit on the four Sundays before Christmas.
Where it goes in the service
Early in the service on each of the four Sundays of Advent, usually right after the call to worship and before the first song, and again for the Christ candle on Christmas Eve. Typically read by a family or a pair of lay readers while one of them lights the candle. Ninety seconds or less.
What is a advent candle lighting liturgy?
The Advent wreath holds five candles: four around a circle of evergreen and one in the center. One candle is lit on the first Sunday of Advent, two on the second, three on the third, four on the fourth, and the center candle on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. The liturgy is the handful of words spoken while that happens.
It is a small element with an outsized job. Advent is the season the church spends waiting, and a wreath that gains a candle every week is a physical argument that the waiting is going somewhere. Most congregations hand the lighting to a different family each week, which also makes it the one moment in the service led by people who are not on staff.
The standard theme set is hope, peace, joy, and love, with the Christ candle at the center. That set is a nineteenth-century Lutheran convention rather than a biblical requirement, and other churches use prophets, Bethlehem, shepherds, and angels instead. Either scheme works; what matters is that you announce it in week one and keep it for the whole season.
A workable liturgy has four beats: a sentence naming the week, a short scripture, the lighting itself, and a one-sentence prayer. Ninety seconds total. Anything longer competes with the sermon, and families reading from the front are rarely rehearsed.
11 advent candle lighting liturgies you can use this Sunday
Free to copy, print, and project. Scripture is quoted from public-domain translations, so no permission is required.
Week One: Hope
Advent 1 (Hope)Reader 1: We light the first candle of Advent. This is the candle of hope. Reader 2: The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Reader 1: We are a people who wait. We wait for what God has promised and has not yet finished. All: Come, Lord Jesus. Our hope is in you.
— Original, with Isaiah 9:2 (KJV)
Week Two: Peace
Advent 2 (Peace)Reader 1: We light the candle of hope, and we add the candle of peace. Reader 2: The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Reader 1: Peace is not quiet. Peace is what happens when God sets crooked things straight. All: Come, Lord Jesus. Make a road to us, and make a road through us.
— Original, with Isaiah 40:3 (KJV)
Week Three: Joy
Advent 3 (Joy)Reader 1: We light the candles of hope and peace, and we add the candle of joy. Reader 2: My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. Reader 1: Mary sang before anything had visibly changed. That is what joy is. All: Come, Lord Jesus. Give us songs we can sing in the dark.
— Original, with Luke 1:46-49 (KJV)
Week Four: Love
Advent 4 (Love)Reader 1: We light the candles of hope, peace, and joy, and we add the candle of love. Reader 2: Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Reader 1: Love came first. It did not wait to be deserved and it did not wait to be asked. All: Come, Lord Jesus. Love us into the people you made us to be.
— Original, with 1 John 4:10 (KJV)
Christmas Eve: The Christ Candle
Christmas EveReader 1: For four weeks we have lit candles in the dark and said that someone was coming. Reader 2: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Reader 1: Tonight we light the candle in the center. The waiting is over. He is here. All: Glory to God in the highest. Christ is born.
— Original, with John 1:14 (KJV)
The Prophets, Bethlehem, Shepherds, Angels Scheme
Alternate schemeWeek 1, the Prophet Candle: But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel. Week 2, the Bethlehem Candle: And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem. Week 3, the Shepherd Candle: And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Week 4, the Angel Candle: Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
— Micah 5:2; Luke 2:4, 8, 10 (KJV)
A Short Family Reader Script
Family-ledAdult: Good morning. We are the [Surname] family, and we are lighting the [first] candle of Advent. Child: This candle is for [hope]. Adult: [Read the week's scripture, two verses.] Child: [Lights the candle.] Adult: Let us pray. God, thank you that you keep your promises. Help us wait well. Amen.
— Original
Prayer at the Lighting (All Four Weeks)
PrayerGod of the long wait, we light this candle because we cannot make the morning come and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Keep us watching. Keep us honest about the dark. And keep your promise, as you always have. Amen.
— Original
Advent Wreath Dedication (First Sunday)
Advent 1 (Hope)Leader: This wreath is a circle, because the love of God has no end. People: It is green in winter, because life is stubborn. Leader: It holds five candles, and we will light one more each week. People: Because the light is not finished, and neither are we. All: Bless this wreath, O God, and bless the weeks it will measure. Amen.
— Original
A Candle Lighting for a Blue Christmas Service
Longest NightLeader: We light this candle for what we have lost, and we are not going to name it cheerfully. People: We light it anyway. Leader: We light this candle for the chair that will be empty at the table. People: We light it anyway. Leader: We light this candle because the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. All: We light it anyway. Come, Lord Jesus.
— Original, with John 1:5 (KJV)
Isaiah 9:6 as a Standing Reading
ScriptureFor unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
— Isaiah 9:6 (KJV)
How to write your own
- 1Pick your theme scheme before the first Sunday and print all five weeks at once. Deciding week by week is how a congregation ends up with two candles of joy and no candle of peace.
- 2Write for the reader you will actually get, which is often a nine-year-old. Short sentences, no subordinate clauses, no words a child has to sound out in front of three hundred people.
- 3Give the congregation one line. A single repeated response such as "Come, Lord Jesus" turns a family reading into the whole room waiting together.
- 4Keep the scripture to two verses. The Advent readings later in the service can carry the weight; this moment only has to set the theme.
- 5Say what the theme means in one sentence before you pray. "Peace is what happens when God sets crooked things straight" does more work than a paragraph of definition.
- 6Email the script to the family on Wednesday and put a printed copy on the stand Sunday morning. Nearly every awkward candle lighting traces back to a reader seeing the words for the first time.
How different traditions handle it
The Advent wreath began in Lutheran practice in nineteenth-century Germany and spread to Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, and eventually Baptist and non-denominational congregations. Catholic and Anglican wreaths traditionally use three purple candles and one rose candle, the rose lit on the third Sunday (Gaudete, "rejoice"), which is where the joy theme comes from. Many Protestant churches now use blue rather than purple to distinguish Advent from Lent. Churches on the Revised Common Lectionary usually draw the candle scripture from that week's appointed readings, which ties the wreath to the sermon rather than leaving it as a separate ceremony.
Frequently asked questions
What order are the Advent candles lit?
One candle on the first Sunday of Advent, then that one plus a second on the next Sunday, and so on, so the wreath grows brighter each week. The white Christ candle in the center is lit last, on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Most churches light the candles in the same physical direction each year and simply note which candle is next in the bulletin.
What do the four Advent candles mean?
In the most common scheme they stand for hope, peace, joy, and love. An older scheme names them for the prophets, Bethlehem, the shepherds, and the angels. Neither set is prescribed by scripture, so pick one, announce it in week one, and keep it consistent through the season.
Who lights the Advent candles?
Usually a different household each week rather than the pastor. It is one of the few moments in a service that a family can lead without training, and it visibly hands the season to the congregation. Send the script early, and pair a child with an adult reader.
What is the Christ candle?
The fifth candle, white, in the center of the wreath. It is lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and represents Christ himself arriving after the season of waiting. Many churches leave it burning through the twelve days of Christmas and into Epiphany.
What color should the candles be?
Three purple and one rose is the traditional liturgical set, with the rose candle lit on the third Sunday. Many Protestant congregations use four blue candles instead, to keep Advent visually distinct from Lent. The center Christ candle is white in every scheme.
How long should the candle lighting take?
Ninety seconds. Two verses of scripture, one sentence of explanation, the lighting, and a short prayer. If it runs to four minutes it has become a second sermon delivered by an unrehearsed reader.
Can we do the Advent wreath at home?
Yes, and the same script works. Four candles, one added each week, read at dinner on Sunday. Households that do this often find the season lands differently than it does from a pew, because the waiting is measured in their own kitchen.
Keep a record of what was actually said
The advent candle lighting liturgy you wrote is in your notes. The sermon that went with it usually isn't. Transcribe every service and build a searchable archive your congregation can go back to — the Church Plan is $19/month for as many sermons as you preach.
Related parts of the service
Calls to Worship
A call to worship is the opening words of a service — a summons, usually from the Psalms, that tells a gathered crowd it has become a worshiping congregation.
Responsive Readings
A responsive reading alternates lines between a leader and the congregation, turning scripture from something heard into something spoken.
Opening Prayers for Church Services
An opening prayer sets the tone of a service in under a minute — gathering a distracted room and turning its attention toward God.
Benedictions
A benediction is the spoken blessing that sends a congregation out at the end of worship — not a closing prayer, but a pronouncement of God's favor over his people.
Everything else in the service
Planning the rest of the service
- Sermon resources for all 66 books — themes, famous chapters, and preaching notes to pair with the readings.
- Sermon length calculator — check the service fits the time you actually have.
- Sermon outline generator — turn a text and a big idea into a preaching outline.
- Sermon series ideas — plan a season, then build the liturgy around it.