advent 2008

yesterday at church, one of our children's pastors spoke. he talked about advent - a ceremony kept in churches deeply embedded in tradition. i was immediately taken back to a time when i first experienced advent. i was a young adult, married, no kids and christmas meant something so different than it means to me now. i remember lighting candles, reading scripture, and praying. it was a great time.
now we have 3 kids. we have a busier life. we have a deeper faith. we have a desire to teach our kids the true meaning of christmas. so yesterday, after church, adam and i decided to gather our little family together and create a family tradition of practicing advent.
i thought it would be cool if i shared our advent experience with you - and see if it's something you'd want to start with your own families. here's the format we are following. we are planning on doing this tonight, so i'll let you know how it goes.
advent usually starts the 4th sunday before christmas and continues every sunday until christmas eve. i don't think it matters so much which day you do it. if your busy on sunday, try a day of the week that works for you.
so let's begin...
advent actually means a time of preparation. it offeres us a time to prepare our minds and hearts for the celebraiton of the birth of christ. the advent wreath comes from an old family tradition widely practiced in the northern countries of europe during the 19th century. the circle of evergreens stands for the eternity of god, and the evergreen branches themselves symbolize the abundant life that jesus gives us. four purple candles flank the wreath and tradition states that these represent hope, peace, joy and love. in the center of the wreath is one large white canle, the christ candle. it is lit to celebrate christ's presence iwth us. on christmas day, when all the candles are lit, the advent wreath as a whole symbolizes the completeness of god's provision for us. (most of this paragraph was taken from a brochure from our church.)
november 30 - hope
help your child light the first candle

you say: we light the first candle of advent, the candle of hope, to remind us of the birth of jesus in bethlehem-fulfilment of god's promise of hope to the world.

read: isaiah 9:2, Isaiah 9:6, Romans 15:12-13

sing: o little town of bethlehem

sharing: go around the family circle and let each member share what his/her hope is for this christmas.

prayer: dear jesus, thank you for coming to us and giving us your gift of hope. help us to remember to share this gift with those around us this week. amen.