Advent officially begins November 30. Advent means "coming," and we spend four weeks in anticipation of Christmas day and remembering the events that led up to the birth of Christ.
My kiddos are chomping at the bits to open our Advent box, but it isn't time for that yet! I hope to share what's in that special box later this week (Here it is!). However, several moms have been asking me what we use for our Advent devotions, so I wanted to go ahead and post on our two primary teaching tools for family worship during the Advent season.
The Advent Wreath and The Advent Book
I like to keep our Advent devotions simple yet rich and from the Word, so after looking through various devotionals several years ago, I found this format worked really well for our young family.
- We light our Advent candle.
- We recite the meaning of the candle.
- We read from the Advent book and/or devotion guide.
- We sing a hymn.
- We pick a Christmas card we've received in the mail to pray for that family.
Some years we've done the above once a week each Sunday of Advent, but read The Advent Book each night (you'll see why below). Other years we've done all the above every night. If it's overwhelming, just plan to do a special Advent devotion each Sunday of Advent. When I began building traditions for our family, I had to take baby steps!
One of our favorite traditions at the start of Advent is to make an Advent Wreath for our candles.
It all starts with a little round foil pan...
a piece of round floral foam...
then a square piece of floral foam for the center, all from the Dollar Store!
I purchased these floral green candle stakes from Hobby Lobby. I save my stakes and reuse them each year. These stakes will hold the taper candles in place.
We need five taper candles: 3 purple, one pink, and one white. A set of Advent taper candles can be purchased on amazon or from most craft stores such as Hobby Lobby or Michael's. Just make sure you remember to purchase a white candle to go with them!
We place each stake around the wreath and fill with the candles.
Looks a little bare doesn't it?!
I place the pan in a small artificial wreath, and then we go outside and cut our own greenery to decorate the top. You could use your own greenery to cover the whole thing; I just like how full the surrounding wreath makes it look. Here's a picture from a past year. You can see how lighting the candles is highly anticipated!
The first two things we do are light the Advent candle and recite the significant meaning associated with it. There are various customs among churches, but here are the meanings we use that are found in The Advent Book.
The First Week of Advent
Purple Candle
This candle represents Prophecy and Faith.
The prophets had faith that the promised Messiah would come.
Hymns: Joy to the World; What Child Is This; O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
The Second Week of Advent
Purple Candle
The second candle represents the Angels and Joy.
The news the angels proclaimed brought great joy.
Hymns: Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Angels We Have Heard on High, O Little Town of Bethlehem
The Third Week of Advent
Pink Candle
The third candle represents the Shepherds and Love.
The Shepherds went to worship Jesus who is love.
Hymns: O Come All Ye Faithful
Go Tell It On the Mountain, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
The Fourth Week of Advent
Purple Candle
The fourth candle represents the Wise Men and Hope.
The wise men from the East remind us that Jesus was sent, not only for the Jews, but for every nation!
Hymn: Silent Night
Christmas Eve: All four candles are lit.
Christmas Day
All the candles are lit including the center white candle.
The one who is the true light to all mankind came into the world and is coming again!
Hymn: Kids' Choice!
After lighting our candles, we read from The Advent Book, and on Sundays this Advent season we are using the family Advent devotion guide published by The Village Church. In the past I've used Advent and Christmas in Family Worship for our family devotional guide. My goal has always been to find an Advent family devotional that helps our children see the story of Christ starting from the very beginning. The anticipation of a Savior begins in Genesis and continues throughout the Old Testament. We want them to see Christmas in light of the bigger picture of God's redemptive plan!
The Advent Book is a BEAUTIFUL, handcrafted, heirloom. I think it is one of the best resources for helping children learn to recite from scripture the Christmas story as written in the gospels.
There are 25 doors you'll open and behind each door is a part of the Christmas story. We read the current day's door along with all previous days' doors. For example, on day five of Advent, we open and read doors 1-5. We let the boys each take turn opening the doors, and you can see how by simple repetition they are memorizing the story. They can often recite what's behind a door before it's even open. Everyone has their favorite door!
One of our favorites: Aslan's door from Chronicles of Narnia.
Then we sing our hymn choice, and each boy picks a Christmas card to pray for that family.
Thanks for sharing! I missed service this morning so I'm glad Ken shared your blog with great ideas.
ReplyDeleteYou never knew your blog would be highlighted to the entire church... thanks for sharing your family with so many others and encouraging my family along the way!
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