However, I was ready for change this year, and after having Amanda White do all of the work for me previously, jumped into researching on my own this year...which of course, always is far more stretching!
We always had an advent wreath at home growing up...a "real" one with pretty pink and purple and white candles.
We have nothing of the sort here, so we're just using this simple row of wrong-colored candles leading up to our Haitian manger scene.
More importantly, we're working to discover more about what advent is all about, and to find a way to bring that home daily with toddlers.
And immediately, I discovered Advent is perfect.
Matt is always talking about how the Christian faith is lacking in so many of the focuses on God that Jewish traditions hold dear. And here we have Advent, the perfect time and a perfect way to make Christmas about what it is about...His coming.
Do you know what Advent means? Advent is a word that means "coming" or "visit". It is a season of waiting, of expecting and hoping.
Lily can already tell you that Christmas is about waiting. She "can't wait!" for all kinds of things...for Aunt Lisa, Uncle Adam and Grandpa to come...for her school Christmas party...for someone to send us candy canes (hint hint :)...for us to set up the tree...to learn all of her new Christmas verses (Luke 4--she wants to surprise said family :)...to see what's under the tree Christmas morning.
She is already waiting, expecting, and hoping...let's face it, ALL of us are. Beginning today, four Sundays prior to Christmas and ending on Christmas Eve, Advent helps us prepare for His coming, for the coming of Jesus.
For hundreds of years, Christians have used an advent wreath to inspire their hopes for the coming Christ, lighting candles and reading Bible verses to remind ourselves about the meaning of His birth, and to help build the excitement about His coming in the past, in the future, and in our own lives. Call me a dork, I'm excited just typing that.
Instead of discouraging Lily and Sofie's and our own excitements of other elements of this Christmas season, we are deliberately channeling them again this year towards our truest joy...a baby, Christ the King, God's own son, sent into a dark world as Light...bringing hope...bringing truth...bringing forgiveness, and "bringing our hands back together with God", as Lily describes reconciliation.
SO, today, first Sunday of Advent, Happy Advent! If you're looking for a way to refocus your own heart this season with us, I'll share each Sunday what I've found!
The prayers and readings are so simple, and each day during the week we're reading and studying through Matthew and Luke the stories that lead us to Christ's birth, and coloring pictures of those elements and adding them to our "Road to Christmas".
The First Sunday of Advent
By lighting one candle each week of Advent, we help ourselves get ready for the birth of Jesus. This helps us understand how special the birth of Jesus is for us.
This first Sunday, we focus on the coming of Christ as our Shepherd.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for this season of Advent that helps us prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas. As we read the Bible and light a candle, may excitement for Christ's coming burn in our hearts. Amen. (side note: I love that God can HELP our hearts burn with excitement when we ask Him to!)
Reading: (I love seeing how the entire Bible tells of His coming!)
Psalm 80: 1-7
Isaiah 40: 1-11
Revelation 7: 9-17
Lighting of the Candle:
We light this candle because, like God's people centuries ago, we also look forward with hope to the coming of the Shepherd. The (purple) color of this candle reminds us of the seriousness of our hope.
Prayer of Hope:
Dear God, as we light this candle, we hope for your coming as our Good Shepherd. Please gather us in your arms, feed us with spiritual food, wipe away every tear from our eyes, and let your face shine, that we may be saved. Come, our Shepherd! Amen!
Closing Song: (tune of "O Come Let us Adore Him")
O come to us, our Shepherd,
O come to us, our Shepherd,
O come to us, our Shepherd,
Christ the Lord!
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Does your family have any meaningful or cherished Advent traditions? I would SO love to hear...
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ReplyDeleteSorry Stacey! I couldn't see how to edit my comment once it was published, and it had a typo! :)
ReplyDeleteOur Christmas creche has a baby Jesus that is separate from its hay, so we can take him out…which I do each year during Advent. We put him in the manger on Christmas eve (use to be after we had read the Christmas story when the kids were young). I love looking at the empty bale of hay in anticipation of the celebration of the birth of our Savior! I think waiting is good for us, even if it is hard. I am reminded in the OT-I think in Isaiah, where it says God waits for us as well--so true, yes?
That's perfect, Deb...(as long as no one forgets where Jesus is :)...
DeleteSo. True.
We have an advent calendar with pockets--I put candy in it for each day before Christmas--the baby Jesus goes into Day 24. We may have lost him once. But I think we found him at Easter. Lol
DeleteAlways enjoying your words, even (or especially sometimes) the hards ones. I, too, love advent, but rarely do what I want to help us all prepare. This year we ARE DOING IT! We are doing a Jesse tree with ornaments for each day Dec. 1-25 and we are reading a passage in the Jesus Storybook Bible (which is AMAZING). Pinterest is where I found the Bible readings and the Jesse tree stuff is from Mary Friedeman (Matt's wife) and her children's ministry stuff from DaySpring many years ago. You and your girls would love the Jesus Storybook Bible and you could adapt the ornaments to go along exactly with those stories (it's very similar and almost right on the very same schedule).
ReplyDelete