New resources for worship are generally welcomed by worship leaders and the Joint Liturgical group has developed free to use material for three sequences ideally suited to a Sunday evening or weeknight celebration during Advent. Too often the distinction between the preparation for Christmas and the celebration of Christmas is lost. The material suggested by the group helps to preserve that distinction. The three sequences for Advent are:
Prepare the Way of the Lord
The Jesse Tree
Advent Refrains
Worship leaders are encouraged to consider this material and adapt the patterns offered to suit their local situations or simply incorporate some of the ideas or text offered into their own services.
The full text of these resources may be downloaded as a pdf file here.
In addition to the Advent resources, the Joint Liturgical group has produced a further four patterns for use during the Christmas & Epiphany Season. These four sequences are entitled:
The Promise Fulfilled
Christmas Eve (a traditional 9 Lessons and Carols)
Light to the Nations
The Glory of Christ Revealed
As with the Advent sequences, each pattern is offered with a number of options including ideas for readings, music, prayer and other elements drawing on texts and material from across the Churches.
The full text of these resources may also be downloaded as a pdf file here.
The Joint Liturgical Group (jlg.org.uk) exists as a creative working group. It offers rites and texts to the churches and ecumenical bodies, organises conferences, and advises and comments on worship matters. Work produced by the group is offered to churches to use as they see fit. The Free Churches Group (FCG) has been a member of the JLG since 1995. Whilst the larger Free Churches are members in their own right, the FCG representatives have sought to enhance the work of the group with some of the distinctive insights that can be drawn from the smaller, less traditionally liturgical, Free Churches.
For more information and resources please visit The Joint Liturgical Group website here.