It's that time! Our Diocesan formation team is pleased to share 2023 Advent Resources for children, families and adults!
It's that time! Our Diocesan formation team is pleased to share 2023 Advent Resources for children, families and adults.
Children Resources
- Lego Advent Calendar Prayers – The Diocese of Arkansas has developed prayers to go along with the Lego Advent Calendar. You can download the prayers for free but be sure to buy the Lego Advent Calendar early because they sell out quickly!
- Godly Play – Check out the Advent resources from Godly Play, including at-home story materials and congregational materials.
- Praying in Color Advent Calendars - “Praying in Color” creator Sybil MacBeth offers free printable Advent calendars for “doodling” prayers, as she describes it, each day of Advent. She also provides guidance on how to introduce “Praying in Color” as a practice.
- Families Celebrate Advent & Christmas 2023-2024 contains cards for each day of the Advent and Christmas seasons with illustrations, short reflections, practices, and prayers. These are great for families to incorporate rituals or activities into their day-to-day lives during these seasons. The pack of cards is $9.99 and is published by Augsburg Fortress. You can also download a free promotional pack on their website with ideas for using the cards in your church and several coloring pages.
- A Sanctified Art has released their 2023 Advent resources, and the collection includes printable “How Does a Weary World Rejoice? Advent Calendars for Children and Adults.” Their 2023 focus is “practicing joy in a weary world.” The children’s calendar involves coloring a part of the calendar for each day of Advent, and both the children’s and adult calendars suggest daily activities to invite joy into the season. Both calendars are sold together. Copies for personal use can be purchased for $5 each, and copies for church use can be purchased at varying rates by quantity starting at $20 for up to 25 copies.
- Illustrated Ministry has developed “An Illustrated Advent Calendar” as a digital printable for family or church use. Three different editions of the calendar are currently available: a geometric shapes design, one that features shepherds and stars, and a new version with strands of Christmas lights. Each edition begins on December 1 and ends on Christmas and involves coloring and other activities. Pricing is on a sliding scale for the shepherds and stars edition ($2.99 for a household, $9.99 – 15.99 by church size) and a flat rate of $11.99 for the light strands and geometric editions.
- Saint Nicholas - Are you planning a visit from Saint Nicholas, or another celebration for St. Nicholas Day (December 6). Check out a ton of resources at St. Nicholas Center, ranging from coloring pages and games to stories and liturgical resources.
- Advent Blocks - A simple 25 day, Scripture based, Christmas practice with beautiful wooden blocks.
- Children’s Pageants – Looking for an easy children’s pageant with no rehearsals or lines to memorize? Check out these two options:
1. Godly Play version - this can be used even if you do not do Godly Play. Let Teresa know if you would like a preview of the pageant script.
2. Paper Bag Pageant - This easy-to-stage Christmas pageant requires no rehearsal and has a role for everyone! Guided by a storyteller, participants get in on the act in this memorable pageant celebrating Jesus’ birth.
Youth Resources
- Advent Word - from Forward Movement - We choose a single word from the Sunday Lectionary readings for each day during the season of Advent. Each day during Advent, email subscribers and social media followers will receive a daily meditation and visual image inspired by the day’s word. Followers are invited to share their own personal reflections, photos, art, poetry, or other creative expression on their social media profiles, tagging #AdventWord to share with the wider community.
- d365 – Download the d365 app to access daily devotions that follow a five-step format – Pause, Listen, Think, Pray, Go.
- Nativity “Escape Room” - The Nativity Escape Room takes students back in time where they will solve the mysteries of Jesus' birth by decoding puzzles, answering questions, and breaking secret codes! This "Print & Go" activity can be used at home, church, or school throughout the Christmas season. Youth will learn about the visit from the Magi, the astonishment of the shepherds, Gabriel's visit to Mary, and other key events surrounding the birth of Christ.
Intergenerational Resources
- Chrismons – Chrismons, meaning "Christ monograms," traditionally are white and gold designs made from Christian symbols that signify Christ. Often displayed on an evergreen tree during the Christmas season, symbols such as stars, crosses, fish, crowns, and the alpha and omega remind us of Christ's identity, his story, and of the Holy Trinity.
- Generation to Generation (from A Sanctified Art) – This bundle includes 11 resources for congregations to use intergenerationally – devotional booklets, prayers to include in worship, art projects, liturgies for use at home or at church, an Epiphany liturgy and activity, advent calendars, poems, visual art collection, and more!
- SALT - Customizable short films that come with same-themed family devotionals. You can also just purchase the print materials separately. Beautiful designs and so many to choose from!
- Kate Bowler daily devotional - FREE daily devotional downloads with Scripture readings, prayer, and reflection questions to ponder as a family.
Books for Families
- 'Twas the Season of Advent: Devotions and Stories for the Christmas Season by Glenys Nellist - this premium picture book contains twenty-five stories from Dec 1st – Dec 25th to help you celebrate the Advent season. A free, downloadable Activity Pack is also available.
- Look! A Child’s Guide to Advent and Christmas by Laura Alary - Told from the point of a view of a child, the story weaves together familiar Advent traditions like the Jesse tree and the Advent wreath, biblical stories and characters, and reflections on what these stories call us to do and be. This book reassures children of the presence of God in all times and places and invites them to become part of the holy work of making Christ present in the world.
- What We Do in Advent by Anne E. Kitch – An activity book with lots of ways to learn about the true meaning of Advent and Christmas
- Faithful Celebrations: Making Time for God from Advent through Epiphany by Sharon Ely Pearson – Lots of ideas for families to use at home to celebrate throughout the Advent and Christmas season.
- All Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings by Gayle Boss - In twenty-five portraits depicting how wild animals of the northern hemisphere ingeniously adapt when darkness and cold descend, we see and hear as if for the first time the ancient wisdom of Advent: The dark is not an end but the way a new beginning comes. Short, daily reflections that paint vivid, poetic images of familiar animals, paired with charming original wood-cuts, will engage both children and adults.
Adult Resources
- Preparing the Way: Christian Practices for Advent from Forward Movement:
"For Christians, the season of Advent should be a time of reflection, of waiting and watching for Jesus's miraculous birth. But the secular world likes to elbow in, with Christmas displays appearing in late summer. The secular celebrations of the weeks before Christmas often whips us into a frenzy of shopping, decorating, baking, and scheduling encounters with Santa (and the elves!). But our faith beckons us to a gentler way, one focused on the divine. These daily meditations invite you into a more faith-filled observation of Advent and Christmas. Some devotions explore traditional Christian ways to make the seasons, from the Advent wreath to Christmas pageants, from favorite hymns to setting up the creche. But on other days, the reflections offer ideas about how to infuse a sense of the holy into popular traditions such as decorating the tree, sending Christmas cards, and exchanging gifts."
- Living Well Through Advent: Practicing Wonder with All Your Soul, Strength, and Mind by Living Compass
This resource can be used individually or as a small group practice. Available in English and Spanish! There is an Advent devotional book (free download, $.99 cent eBook from Amazon or $10 for a hard copy), a free facilitators' guide, and daily emailed reflections.
- Celtic Advent Calendar from Contemplative Cottage:
"In the 6th century, Celtic Christians celebrate Advent during the 40 days before Christmas, as a mirror to the period of Lent before Easter.” The calendar hearkens back to that ancient time by inviting you into a daily contemplative spiritual exercise intended to help connect you to the season. This is a free downloadable resource.
- Dwelling in the Word:
As the Diocese of Oklahoma, we invite you to join us as we Dwell in the Word, a core spiritual practice for congregational vitality. Dwelling in the Word is a practice you can easily incorporate into your weekly Advent practices, meetings, or Sunday School. Learn more about Dwelling in the Word with our Leader Guide. Our passage for Advent is Isaiah 40: 1-11.
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