Lighting of Advent Candles & Meditation by Rev. Teresa Stuefloten, M.Div. 12/21/2025

Today we conclude the Advent season with the lighting of all 4 advent candles plus the center candle representing the Christ. I invite you to imagine as we light each candle that we are igniting a flame within our own heart.

Our first candle represents Hope. Hope is the seed for a greater future. Several hundred years before the birth of Jesus the Christ Isaiah foretold of a great messiah to come, and the Jewish people kept hope burning alive in their hearts. This day we hold this same hope for the rebirth of Christ within our heart, and the hearts of everyone everywhere. Let us now imagine lighting the candle of hope in our heart.

Our next candle represents Faith. We nourish hope with acts of faith. We pray, we serve, we give, we act as if it is already done unto us. And like Mary, we can say “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior.” Let us now imagine lighting the candle of faith in our heart.

Our next candle represents Joy. We nourish faith with joy. We joyfully live each day sharing the gift that we are. Giving our smile, joyfully giving a helping hand to those in need. We recognize each person as part of our very self — that God Self in each and everyone everywhere. Let us now imagine lighting the candle of faith in our heart.

Our next candle represents Peace. Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.” We nourish joy with peace. We peacefully go about our daily tasks. The kind of peace that passes all worldly understanding. It is a deep inner peace of the soul that has touched the hem of the garment of the Christ Consciousness. Let us now imagine lighting the candle of peace in our heart.

Our final candle represents the Christ Light lit within us. We bring the light of our hope, faith, joy and peace together as a bright flame. Let us now imagine lighting the Christ candle in our heart. This is the rebirth of the Christ spirit into our mind and heart. Let us now imagine lighting the candle of Christ in our heart.

Meditation:

Now I invite you to prepare to go within for a short time of meditation, letting go of worries or concerns for this time, getting comfortable, closing your eyes with your inner gaze raised to the center of the forehead, turning your attention to your breath, gently noticing the in-breath and the out-breath… feeling the coolness of the in-breath and the warmth of the out-breath… allowing the breath to sink down into the belly with each in-breath… expanding the belly with each in-breath and contracting the belly with each out-breath… coming into the present moment through the breath now, completely awake and aware…

I am one with God…

All of the qualities of God are within me as a Divine expression…

I am that I AM…

God is Divine Hope, the hope of a weary world,

the hope of the Glory of the Christ reborn in each heart…

I am one with God…

I am Divine Hope…

Like a mother awaiting the birth of her child, I am Divine Hope…

I am the positive, uplifting, hope of the Christ…

God is Divine Faith, the faith in that which is not seen…

I am one with God…

I am Divine faith, believing in the Power and Presence of God within me…

Like an astronaut blasting off into outer space, trusting in a return to Earth, I am Divine Faith…

I have faith in what is not seen with human eyes…

I have the power of faith…

God is Divine Joy, the joy of the Divine Light within…

I am one with God…

I am Divine Joy, the Joy of my oneness with all that is…

Like the Joy of the sunrise on a beautiful morning, I am Divine Joy…

Divine Joy is a candle always lit by Divine Love within my heart…

God is Divine Peace…

I am one with God…

I am Divine Peace, the peace of the Soul…

Like the moon reflected on a calm lake, I am Divine Peace…

I am peaceful, serene, unruffled, calm…

Divine Peace gives me rest…

God is the Christ Consciousness, residing within, that is now lit by Divine Hope, Faith, Joy, Peace and Love within me…

I am a spark of the Divine, igniting the Christ within right now…

Christ consciousness is manifested in me now as I allow it to be activated…

We let go into the silence for one minute, feeling the Christ within…

Now, having rested in the silence, I invite you to bring yourself back to awareness of the body, feeling gratitude for the blessings of Divine Hope, Faith, Joy, Peace and Love that are always yours as you dwell mindfully in the present moment. The Christ within is born in you as you turn within. You are a Divine expression, always in the flow of grace. The peace that passes all understanding is in the present moment. Today, as a Divine expression, live from the knowing that you are perfect, whole and complete in God, living, moving and having your being in God. And so it is!