Keeping Vigil for Hope through the Longest Night
Our newest Advent resources are crafted around the theme, What do you fear? Insisting on hope this Advent. This worship series is an invitation to engage compassionately with fear, catalyzing it into deep faith, bold courage, and resilient hope. To supplement the series, we offer this simple worship outline as a way to make space for difficult emotions during the holiday season, particularly surrounding the fear of the world. This could be offered as a slight alternative to a traditional Blue Christmas or Longest Night service. As this liturgy is inspired by candlelight vigils, you might even choose to hold the service outdoors after dark. We have included notes about how the service might best be adapted for outdoor worship without bulletins or screens.
You are welcome to adapt this liturgy to your context. Please use the following credit line for this service: “Liturgy by Rev. Anna Strickland | A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org.”
Supplies needed:
Advent candles and candle lighter;
Taper candles;
Drip guards;
Taper candle holders
Trash can or basket (optional, for collecting drip guards).
Before the service:
Place drip guards on taper candles and set them at the entrance to your worship space so worshipers can take one as they enter. Place taper candle holders on the Communion Table. You might also choose to place a basket or trash can near the Table for collecting the drip guards when worshipers bring their candles forward to place in the candle holders.
To avoid using hymnals while holding lit candles, print lyrics in bulletins, project them on screens, or use simple repeated refrains such as Taizé music.
If you are gathering outdoors, consider how you will lead music—either a capella with a song leader or with a portable instrument—and amplify sound if needed. A lectern or music stand with the printed liturgy and readings will be helpful for those leading.
GATHERING MUSIC
Play soft music as people gather. For suggestions and a Spotify playlist, see our music suggestions for the “What do you fear?” Advent series. You might also choose to use some of the song suggestions included under the opening and closing hymns in this service.
WELCOME & PASSING THE PEACE
Welcome worshipers to this service, noting the purpose and intention of the service as well as logistical notes concerning candle lighting. You might say:
Friends, though Christmas is a time of joy and hope, we also recognize that fear and grief are often present too, weighing on us like a heavy fog. Tonight we will light candles together and keep vigil, inviting God to join us no matter what emotions are present too.
If you are livestreaming the service, add: If you are joining us online, I invite you to grab a candle you can light along with us.
The candles in our hands can feel fragile, insignificant, their flames easily extinguished. But in a few minutes, we will turn to our neighbors to spread the light. The light will multiply, wrapping this whole community in warmth. The darkness around us will not be eradicated; if anything, it further illuminates the flicker of the candles. In these vigil spaces, grief and fear dance with gratitude and hope. In these spaces, we find courage and unity. In these spaces, we are reminded that God is near.
Let us keep watch. Let us keep vigil. Let us worship God together.
OPENING CANDLE LIGHTING
Read the following communal litany while the Advent candles of hope, peace, joy, and love are lit. If you are worshiping outdoors, invite people to respond, “We keep vigil,” when indicated with an outstretched palm.
Even through the longest nights,
we keep vigil.
When days are long and we grow weary,
we keep vigil.
When we’re running out of hope,
we keep vigil.
When peace feels like a pipe dream,
we keep vigil.
When joy seems like a luxury we can’t afford,
we keep vigil.
When the world is more full of hate than love,
we keep vigil.
When we’re desperate for Christ, Emmanuel, God-With-Us,
we keep vigil.
Let us keep vigil, for God is surely with us.
PASSING THE PEACE & PASSING THE LIGHT
Let us now pass the peace of Christ to one another as we pass the candlelight, remembering that each of us carries the Christ-light within. May the peace of Christ be with you.
And also with you.
Light worshipers’ candles, passing the light as you would during a Christmas Eve service or candlelight vigil. You might start the accompaniment for the following hymn while worshipers are passing the peace.
OPENING HYMN/SONG
If holding this service outdoors, you may wish to use simple repeated refrains. Suggested hymns and songs for this service include:
“O Lord, Hear My Prayer” by the Taizé Community (1982) [↗]
“Wait for the Lord” by the Taizé Community (1982) [↗]
“Christ, Be Our Light” by Bernadette Farrell (1993) [↗]
“O Little Town of Bethlehem” by Phillips Brooks (1868) [↗]
“It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” by Edmund Hamilton Sears (1849) [↗]
SCRIPTURE READING | ISAIAH 64
Read Isaiah 64 in your preferred translation.
SILENT REFLECTION
I invite you now into a time of quiet reflection. Close your eyes and feel the ground supporting you. Pay attention to what you feel in your body:
What is your breathing like?
Where do you feel tension?
How is your heart?
Notice without judgment the way your body may be carrying fear into this space. Gently ask your body in its wisdom, “What do you fear?” and listen for its response.
Hold silence for a few moments to allow for reflection.
I invite you now to slow your breathing. Place a hand on your chest. Relax any areas of tension you’re carrying. Be gentle to your body. Breathe deeply, inviting God—our source, our spirit, our very breath—into your lungs.
Amen.
POETRY READING
Suggested poems for this service include:
“A Step Toward Home” by Sarah A. Speed (included in the “What do you fear?” poetry collection available here)
“Birdsong” by Sarah A. Speed [↗]
“Lightning Bugs” by Sarah A. Speed [↗]
“Tell Me Again” by Sarah A. Speed [↗]
SUNG RESPONSE
Suggested refrains include:
“O Lord, Hear My Prayer” by the Taizé Community (1982) [↗]
“Wait for the Lord” by the Taizé Community (1982) [↗]
Dona Nobis Pacem (any setting)
Kyrie Eleison / Lord Have Mercy (any setting)
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
I now invite you to bring your candle to the Communion Table, placing it in a candle holder as you say a prayer for the hopes and fears you carry in your heart. We will hold each of these prayers, trusting that God knows the depths of our longing and enters in with a tenacious hope.
If you are holding this service outside without a Table, you might instead say:
Let us now turn to God in prayer, offering up all the hopes and fears we carry in our hearts. As we enter into this time of silence, we trust that God knows the depths of our longing and enters in with a tenacious hope.
If you are live streaming the service, you might add:
If you are joining us from home, we invite you to type a prayer into the chat which we will hold alongside these prayers. For prayers that are too deep for words, or for prayers that you prefer to keep in your heart alone, you might simply put a candle emoji.
Give time for worshipers to come forward. (Or if holding a vigil outdoors without a table, give time for silent prayer.) You may wish to play soft music during this time. When all worshipers have returned to their seats, close with a brief prayer, such as:
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers. Amen.
SUNG RESPONSE
Repeat the same refrain as was sung previously.
SCRIPTURE READING | ISAIAH 54:10-14
Read Isaiah 54:10-14 in your preferred translation.
WORDS OF COMFORT / AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
If holding this service outdoors, you might choose to have one person read to eliminate the need for printed bulletins.
Time after time, the angels break in with a greeting:
“Do not fear.”
So when our days are heavy and our sleep grows restless,
we believe that God is near.
When fear feels greater than hope,
we’ll look for signs of new life;
we’ll take a step toward God with shaking knees;
we’ll stand together,
and we won’t let fear stop us.
When we’re desperate for Christ, Emmanuel, God-With-Us, we’ll remember:
we are the hands and feet of Christ,
made in God’s own image,
called to be light-bearers in a fearful world.
For we know that, no matter how it may seem,
God is here, among us, even now. Amen.
CLOSING HYMN/SONG
Suggested hymns and songs for this service include:
“O Lord, Hear My Prayer” by the Taizé Community (1982) [↗]
“Wait for the Lord” by the Taizé Community (1982) [↗]
“Christ, Be Our Light” by Bernadette Farrell (1993) [↗]
“O Little Town of Bethlehem” by Phillips Brooks (1868) [↗]
“It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” by Edmund Hamilton Sears (1849) [↗]
BENEDICTION
This benediction is by Rev. Sarah Speed from the What do you fear? Words for Worship.
In a fearful world,
may you look for God’s spirit.
May you reach for each other’s hands.
May you choose courage whenever you can.
And in all things, may you remember
that good news is louder than fear.
In the name of the one who calls,
the one who sends,
and the one who journeys with—
go in peace and
be not afraid.
Amen.
Rev. Anna Strickland
Creative Partner & Operations Support
Anna Strickland (she/her) looks for the Divine in the everyday like treasure in clay jars and first encountered God in the integration of her spiritual self and artistic self. She is a former teacher and college minister, a proud Texas Longhorn and graduate of Iliff School of Theology, a Baptist to the core ministering in ecumenical spaces, and a lover of chaos anchored by the belief that the Spirit is most active in the spaces between us.