Advent readings for 2026: Scripture and candle readings for each Sunday

Advent 2026 begins on Sunday, November 29, and runs four Sundays to Christmas, which falls on a Friday this year. Christmas Eve is the Thursday, four days after the last Sunday of Advent, so line up readers and volunteers for both services at the same time.

The dates

The dates change every year, and the church year calendar tool finds them for any year. Pick a year to see Advent and Christmas.

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Pick a year and see the first Sunday of Advent and Christmas Day. The real tool prints the whole church year and gives you a file for your calendar.

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Year 2026 2027 2028

Church name

Cedar Hill Baptist Church · 2027

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Advent means “coming.” On these four Sundays the church reads the promises God made about the Messiah, the King he promised to send, whom Christians know as Jesus Christ. Christians also wait now for Christ to come again, so the readings look both back and ahead. A church with no wreath can keep the same four Sundays by preaching these promises.

Churches name the candles differently, and the readings below fit both common sets of names. Many churches use hope, peace, joy and love, and others name the candles for the prophets, Bethlehem, the shepherds and the angels. A common wreath holds three purple candles, a pink one for the third Sunday, and a white candle in the middle that is lit at Christmas.

A reading and a script for each Sunday

Each script takes about two minutes, including the lighting. Use the scripts by themselves, or before the lectionary readings further down if your church follows the lectionary. Give each script to the reader or the family a week ahead so they can practice it out loud, and copy the scripts and prayers on this page freely for your church.

The Scripture here is from the Berean Standard Bible. Its translators dedicated the text to the public domain on April 30, 2023, so you can print it in a bulletin or put it on a screen without asking permission. A letter after a verse number marks part of a verse, so 5a is the first part of verse 5.

First Sunday: hope

Read Isaiah 9:2, 6-7.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.

The reader says: “God’s people waited a long time for the child Isaiah promised, and God kept his word. We light this candle for hope, because the child has come and he will come again.”

Light the first candle.

The reader prays: “Lord Jesus, you are the light the prophets saw from far off. Keep us watching for you this month. Amen.”

The reading can go on the screen while the family lights the candle.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.

Isaiah 9:2

Second Sunday: peace

Read Micah 5:2a, 4-5a.

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for Me One to be ruler over Israel. He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majestic name of the LORD His God. And they will dwell securely, for then His greatness will extend to the ends of the earth. And He will be our peace.

The reader says: “Micah, one of God’s prophets, named Bethlehem as the town the promised ruler would come from, centuries before Jesus was born there. We light this candle for peace, because Jesus makes peace between God and everyone who trusts him.”

Light the first candle, then the second.

The reader prays: “Prince of Peace, quiet our hearts and our homes this season, and make us people who make peace. Amen.”

Third Sunday: joy

Read Luke 2:8-14.

And there were shepherds residing in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night. Just then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord! And this will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there appeared with the angel a great multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests!”

The reader says: “On the night Jesus was born, an angel brought the news to shepherds out in the fields. We light this candle for joy, because the angel said the good news was for all the people, and that includes us.”

Light the first two candles, then the third. On a wreath with a pink candle, this is the Sunday for it.

The reader prays: “Father, give us the shepherds’ joy, and send us out like them to tell what we have heard. Amen.”

Fourth Sunday: love

Read 1 John 4:9-10.

This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

The reader says: “Christmas is five days away. We light this candle for love, because God loved us first and sent his Son to save us.”

Light the first three candles, then the fourth.

The reader prays: “Father, thank you for loving us before we loved you. Teach us to love each other the way you have loved us. Amen.”

If your church names this candle for the angels, read Luke 1:30-33, where the angel Gabriel tells Mary that she will give birth to a son named Jesus.

Christmas Eve: the Christ candle

Read John 1:1-5 and 14, or Luke 2:1-7.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The reader says: “For four Sundays we have lit candles for the coming of Christ. John calls Jesus the Word and the light of men. Tonight we light the Christ candle, because the light the prophets waited for has come into the world.”

Light all four candles, then the white candle in the center.

Set the wreath on a stable stand with nothing that can burn near it, keep a snuffer nearby, and use battery candles if your building does not allow open flames.

The reader prays: “Lord Jesus, thank you for coming to us. We wait now for the day you come again. Amen.”

Lectionary readings for Year B

The Revised Common Lectionary is a three-year schedule of Bible readings that many churches use for Sunday worship. The church year that starts November 29, 2026 is Year B, the second year of the cycle. A church that follows it reads some or all of the four readings each week: one from the Old Testament, a psalm, one from the letters of the New Testament, and one from the Gospels. These are the Year B readings as the Vanderbilt Divinity Library lists them. The lectionary gives three sets for Christmas, and the December 24 row is the first.

The first Gospel reading is Mark 13, where Jesus tells his disciples to stay awake for his return, and the readings reach his birth on Christmas Eve. A sermon on Mark 13 on the first Sunday can explain why Advent is about waiting, because Christians wait for Christ’s return as Israel waited for his birth.

Hymns you can print and project

As of January 1, 2026, works published in the United States in 1930 or earlier are in the public domain, according to Duke Law’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain. The words of every hymn below are far older than that, so their original words may go in a bulletin or on a screen with no license, and each title below links to the full text.

The years come from Hymnary.org’s records. Copy from an old source or from those pages, because a modern hymnal may print an edited text, a new translation or a new arrangement, and each of those can carry its own copyright. The U.S. Copyright Office says the copyright in a new version covers what the editor, translator or arranger added. Read the lines printed under the words and the music before you copy from a hymnal. A song published in 1931 or later is usually still under copyright, so print it under your church’s music license or with the publisher’s permission.

The hymn library already holds the words of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, Hark! the Herald Angels Sing, Joy to the World and O Little Town of Bethlehem, each copied from a hymnal published in 1930 or earlier. Pick one below and see it as a slide.

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Put a hymn on the screen

Pick a public domain hymn and see the words as a slide. The real tool opens with that hymn first in your set.

This free tool is made by Hamilton Holdings LLC, the company behind Covenant OS, and published on Church Posting.

Hymn Amazing GraceHoly, Holy, HolyIt Is Well with My SoulBlessed AssuranceThe Old Rugged CrossCome, Thou Fount of Every BlessingO Come, All Ye FaithfulO Come, O Come, EmmanuelHark! the Herald Angels SingJoy to the World

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The tool is free, and the hymn library has no license to buy because every text is public domain.

Notes for the people reading

Have each reader practice once in the room, with the microphone, before Sunday. Most people read too fast when they are nervous, so ask them to read slower than feels natural.

Print the reading in large type for children and older readers, and put an adult beside any child lighting a candle. A long-reach lighter keeps sleeves away from the flame.

Assign the five readings to five families in early November, send each family its script, and text each one a reminder the week before.

For the rest of the service, see the order of worship guide, and print the Sunday sheet with the bulletin maker.