SHANNON:   We come to bear witness to the Light. In the fullness of time, God entered this world in the birth of Jesus, the Word of God, the Light of the world. Jesus grew to adulthood in Nazareth of Galilee. He came to the river Jordan to be baptized by John, and when he came up out of the water, the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended upon Him, and God said, "You are my beloved Son."

MICHAEL:   Let the Paschal candle be lit for Jesus Christ, the light of the world. 

SUSAN:   Jesus chose twelve ordinary men to receive His light. 
He spoke to them saying: "While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become children of light." Then He sent them as apostles to establish the Church, to spread His light to all people, in every race and in every nation on earth. 

GENE:    Let a candle be lit for each of the Twelve Apostles . . . 
[Michael and Gene alternating:] 
MAL:        Simon, called Peter. 
EEA:        Andrew, his brother. 
MAL:       James, the son of Zebedee. 
EEA:        John, his brother. 
MAL:        Philip. 
EEA:        Bartholomew. 
MAL:        Matthew, the tax collector. 
EEA:        James, the son of Alphaeus. 
MAL:        Simon, the Zealot. 
EEA:        Thomas. 
MAL:       Jude. 
EEA:       Judas Iscariot. 
SUSAN:   Judas was to betray Jesus with a kiss. Let the candle for Judas be extinguished for the light he was unable to carry to the end. 

SHANNON:    The first witness to the Resurrection of Jesus, and one who first bore that news to the Twelve was Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene had accompanied Jesus for much of His ministry, and her special and favored relationship with the Lord is shown in the fact that it was to her that Jesus first spoke after He had risen. From ancient tradition in the Church, Mary Magdalene is accorded a status equal to an Apostle. Another who is ranked with the original Twelve is Matthias, who was elected by the remaining eleven to take the place of Judas in their number. 

MICHAEL:   Let two candles be lit for Matthias and Mary Magdalene, who together show that the Apostolic Succession is proven not only by lineage but also by faithful presence and witness. 

SUSAN: Many women have served as disciples, witnesses, and apostles. Mary and Martha of Bethany, and a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well were among the first to confess Jesus as the messiah. Joanna and Susanna traveled with Jesus through Galilee and financed his journeys. Mary, Mother of our Lord, was present at the cross and among those gathered at Pentecost. Phoebe and Priscilla were deacons. Junia was an apostle and contemporary of Paul. Lois, Eunice, and Tabitha were disciples during the early years of the church. 

GENE:   Let candles be lit for each of these faithful women of Scripture and the early Church, who both led and served their communities of faith. 

 Mary and Martha, disciples.
 The Samaritan woman, witness to the Messiah.
 Joanna and Susanna, disciples.
 Mary, Mother of our Lord, disciple.
 Phoebe, deacon.
 Priscilla, church leader.
 Junia, apostle.
 Lois and Eunice, witnesses to Christ.
 Tabitha, disciple. 

SHANNON:   These apostles went out into the world to spread the light of the Gospel of Christ. There were many who opposed their witness and the Word. One of those who tried to put out the Light was a man called Saul of Tarsus. He was a fanatical persecutor of all followers of Jesus until one day he himself was overcome by a vision of the Light of Christ. Taking the name of Paul, he carried that light throughout the Mediterranean world, establishing the Church far beyond the cities, and people of the Jewish culture. From the seeds planted by Paul and those who accompanied him, the light of Christ has spread from a small group in Jerusalem to two billion people in every nation on earth today. 

MICHAEL: Let one candle be lit for Paul, "the apostle to the Gentiles." 

SUSAN:   The story comes to us. In the year 596, Augustine was, sent from Rome by Pope Gregory the Great to be a missionary to England. Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury. He reorganized the remnants of the old Celtic Churches throughout Britain and Ireland, which had existed since the second century and had been built up by revered predecessors in the faith, such as Patrick of Ireland, Alban in England, David in Wales, and Ninian in Scotland. 

GENE: Let five candles be lit for these patriarchs of British Christianity. 

SHANNON:   Reading and studying the Holy Scriptures was greatly facilitated by the system of dividing the Bible's texts into chapters and verses. This relatively modern idea was introduced by Stephen Langdon, an Englishman at the University of Paris. Later, in 1207, he became Archbishop of Canterbury. 

MICHAEL:   Let one candle be lit for Stephen Langdon, who handed the Holy Scriptures down to us as we have them today. 

SUSAN:  In 1517, Martin Luther challenged the church to debate theological issues, hoping for reform. What began as an academic debate grew into a religious war, a separation, and a reformation. Luther's principle of salvation by grace through faith, with the Bible as the norm of doctrine and life, is held by many Christians today. His Small Catechism is still used to introduce and instruct people in the Lutheran tradition. 
 Philip Melancthon gave official shape to Lutheran doctrines as they developed. Concern with unity and healing divisions within the Church, Melancthon wrote his theological manual in 1521. In 1530, he authored the Augsburg Confession, the chief doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church. The Augsburg Confession also influenced the 39 articles of the Church of England. 

GENE:   Let two candles be lit for Martin Luther and Philip Melancthon, courageous reformers for the apostolic faith and the cornerstone of the Lutheran tradition. 

SHANNON:   Thomas Cranmer became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1533. He had been much influenced theologically by the Lutheran reformers in Germany. When the English Church rejected the authority of the papacy in 1534, Archbishop Cranmer led the creation and adoption of a new liturgy for the Church. He produced the first two versions of the Book of Common Prayer, which has been the lifeblood of Anglican worship throughout the world ever since. 

MICHAEL: Let on candle be lit for Thomas Cranmer, the father of Anglican liturgy.

SHANNON: But it was a laywoman whose genius, leadership, and personal faith truly established Anglicanism as a strong and distinct tradition -- Queen Elizabeth I. She preserved and brought together into one Church the ancient catholic order and the principles of the Reformation. 

GENE:   Let one candle be lit for Elizabeth I, whose vision presents the possibilities of unity with diversity. 

SUSAN:   A devout Lutheran, Johann Sebastian Bach is known as one of the greatest composers and organists of all time. He served the Church professionally for much of his life. Often using Lutheran chorales as themes in his music, his harmonizations have been used extensively in hymnals of many Churches and languages. 
MICHAEL:   Let one candle be lit for Johann Sebastian Bach, whose own faith insisted, "to God alone be the glory."

SHANNON:   Early in the American colonial period, Lutherans from Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland were active in the New World. In 1742, Henry Muhlenberg came from Germany to be a Lutheran missionary in the colonies. He served in South 
Carolina, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, and in 1748 founded the 
first North American Synod of the Lutheran Church. He published many hymns, prayers, and a model constitution for congregations 
of the expanding Synod. Muhlenberg's leadership and influence is still much revered today.

GENE:   Let one candle be lit for Henry Muhlenberg, "the patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America." 

SUSAN: After the American colonies won independence, Samuel Seabury of Connecticut was sent to Scotland in 1784 to be consecrated as the first American Anglican bishop. Seabury thus secured the historic episcopate for the Episcopal Church. Three years later, the Archbishop of Canterbury presided at the consecration of two others to be bishops for the Episcopal Church. One of these men was William White of Pennsylvania, who became the first Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. He was the chief architect and wise overseer for his Church for almost fifty years. Every Episcopal bishop, past and present, can trace their ordinations back to Presiding Bishop William White.

MICHAEL: Let candles be lit for Samuel Seabury and William White, patriarchs of the Episcopal Church.

SHANNON:   William Mercer Green was the first Episcopal bishop of Mississippi, consecrated for this office in 1850. Bishop Green came to Tupelo in 1870 and held services for six communicants. He soon appointed the Rev. Henry C. Harris to be the first priest for an Episcopal congregation in Tupelo.
 
 

SUSAN:  The first Lutheran congregation in Mississippi began in Sallis, founded by South Carolina Lutherans over 100 years ago. The South Carolina Synod had been founded in 1824, four years after the Tennessee, Maryland, and General Synods of the Lutheran Church were organized. Since then, many mergers have taken place. In 1988, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was formed from the merger of the LCA, ALC, and AGLC, with Herbert Chilstrom its first presiding bishop. Today, George Anderson is presiding bishop. Ron Warren, bishop of the Southeastern Synod of the ELCA oversees congregations and pastors in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia. 

SHANNON:   The Rev. Edwin Weed came to Tupelo in 1906, and it was during his tenure that the first building for the congregation was begun in 1909. That year, All Saints' became an official mission church, served most faithfully for the next ten years by the Rev. DeBernier Waddell and the Rev. George C. Smeade, principal figures in the expansion of the Episcopal Church in Northeast Mississippi. Over the course of the next several decades, a small but determined group of communicants sustained the Light at All Saints', often against the odds with only a handful of families, until growth allowed the congregation to become a parish church in 1957. Today, All Saints' is known as a leading parish in the Diocese of Mississippi. 

SUSAN: Christ the King Lutheran Church in Tupelo began worship services in 1992 under Pastor Donald Hanberry. The congregation organized officially in 1994 and was later served by interim Pastor William Hesselgrave. Christ the King is the only ELCA congregation within a 60 mile radius in northeast Mississippi. 

SHANNON:   We, the people of Christ the King Lutheran Church and All Saints' Episcopal Church, are now the recipients of the faith and faithfulness which has been entrusted to us in Tupelo as congregations in full communion with each other. With joy and gratitude, we ponder that the faith of Christ, announced by a miraculous star two thousand years ago, has been passed down through the centuries to our places of worship--by Magi, apostles, saints, bishops, local clergy and laypeople: men and women, extraordinary and ordinary. The light is passed from the Bethlehem manger to this place and to our homes. Our prayer is that we sustain and grow the Light that is Jesus Christ, and pass it on -- to those now beside us, and around us, and to those who come after us. 

As an outward sign of this, everyone will please light each other's unlit candles.