Happy New Year!

Looking forward to the New Year? Well, if you are follower of Jesus, your wait is almost over, for the Christian Calendar begins in late November/early December with the Season of Advent. If you are new to the Christian Calendar, you might want to start off with this short video first.

What is the Season of Advent?

Advent is the first season of the Church Calendar, which begins in late November/early December and lasts until Christmas. There are 4 Sundays in the Season of Advent. The season of Advent is characterized by longing, waiting, self-reflection, wonder, joy, and hope as we reflect on God’s faithfulness to his people throughout the centuries and as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus and wait for Jesus’ Second Coming. Because we reflect on the injustices of the world and the things that are not right in our life during this season (which Jesus’ Second Coming will take care of when he makes all things right), Advent is actually a penitential season, and thus the liturgical color of the season is purple. This means that the character of this season stands in contrast to the extended commercial Christmas season that our culture pushes, and so thus when one practices the Season of Advent, one acts counter-culturally. This practice, however, deepens our joy throughout December and allows us to fully embrace the joy and celebration of Christmas when December 25th arrives and we enter into twelve days of Christmas celebration.

Wondering how you might practice Advent this year. Read below for a wide variety of Advent practices for adults, children, and families.

Advent Traditions/Practices

Throughout the ages, many traditions have arisen during the season of Advent, including:

• Decorating the Church and Home in Purple

• Advent Wreaths

• Advent Spirals

• Christmas Lights

• Lessons and Carols

• The Jesse Tree

• The Creche/Nativity

If you are interested in reading more about these traditions and perhaps practicing them yourselves, read here.

Online Advent Devotionals and More for Adults

Looking for daily Advent reflections? Then consider these online resources:

• Biola’s 2024 Online Advent Devotional - daily devotionals that incorporate art, music, poetry, Scripture, and more.

• Arts and Faith by Loyola Press - Reflections on artwork for each Sunday in Advent.

  The Cry of the Manger: Advent Retreat with Pray as You Go - short audio meditations for each week of Advent

• Weekly Online Advent Devotionals/Liturgies by Rev. Kristen Yates

• Sacred Ordinary Day’s Advent Playlist

• Making Room for Advent - Book with 25 daily devotionals and Visio Divina (for a cost)

• Wait and Imagine: Visio Divina for Prayer and Journaling During Advent (for a cost)

• Advent for Everyone: Luke - Devotional by N. T. Wright (for a cost) (Wright also has an Advent book for Matthew)

• Advent: The Season of Hope - Devotional by Tish Harrison Warren (for a cost)

• Immanuel: When God Was One of Us - Devotional by April Bumgardner (for a cost)

• Several Advent Resources from Dwell - (Including: Waiting on the Word with Malcom Guide, Wonder, and the Promise of Light - a retelling of the Christmas stories for families, all available in the Dwell App if you subscribe)

• Every Moment Holy Advent Journal

• Keeping Watch Advent Journal - from Fuller Theological Seminary, includes lectio and visio divina(digital version or book for a cost)

• Stations of the Dawn (Advent Journaling Kit) by Igrid Blixt (for a cost)

• Advent Devotional For Women in Ministry by Rev. Kristen Yates

An Advent Family Tradition - The Jesse Tree

The Jesse Tree has become one of my favorite Advent traditions over the past few years, and while it is ideal for families with small children, it can be practiced by anyone (me, being case in point!). The Jesse tree is a devotional activity which involves reflecting on Jesus’ lineage throughout the season. In fact, it gets it name from a verse in Isaiah 11 which talks about the shoot that would sprout from the stump of Jesse. That shoot was Jesus!

So each day throughout the season, an Old Testament or New Testament story leading up to Jesus’ birth is reflected upon and then a new ornament reflecting that story is hung on the Jesse tree.

As for what a Jesse tree looks like, it can be a small “Charlie Brown” tree or branch, it can be one’s Christmas tree that remains a Jesse tree throughout Advent and then transforms into the full fledged Christmas tree on Christmas Eve, it can be a flat tree made of felt, or it can be anything you would like to use. As for the ornaments, you can buy them or make them. Below, I will provide links to resources that are free or can be purchased.

Free Resources from Faithward, including:

• Jesse Tree symbols and Daily Scripture Readings,

• Printable Jesse Tree Ornaments (colored and ones you can color)

• Personal Devotions

  • Family Devotions

Jesse Tree Ornaments and Trees for Purchase at Etsy

Other Family Advent Activities

Sally Lloyd-Jones, author of the “Jesus Storybook Bible”, has two resources for purchase:

• The Jesus Storybook Bible A Christmas Collection: Stories, Songs, and Reflections for the Advent Season.

• The Jesus Storybook Advent Activity Book: 24 Guided Crafts Plus Games, Songs, Recipes, and More.

The folks over at Faithward have some great ideas for families during this time of year, including:

• Advent Family Activities, such as:

  • Advent Wreath Preparation and Daily Prayers;

  • An Advent Chain With Daily Acts of Service, Devotion, and Love; and

  • Setting up a Creche/Nativity Scene Week by Week

  • Blessing of the Christmas Tree

• Celebrating St. Nicholas Day

Here are some other ideas too:

• Make a Cardboard Advent Wreath and a Simple Advent Spiral to Count Down the Days to Christmas

• Make a Nativity with Painted Rocks

• Lots of Advent Coloring Pages

• Godly Play for Advent - If you are familiar with Godly play (or even if you are not), check out this video. Godly Play is a way for your little ones to contemplate Scripture through simple play. This video incorporates all four weeks of Advent and you could take this as a starting point for your own contemplative play with your toddlers during this season.

• Advent Prayer Cards from the Rabbit Room for daily devotions in Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany

Resources from Ann Voskamp (to be purchased)

• Beautiful Children’s Storybook, with daily stories and activities

• Popup Jesse Tree and Advent Calendar for Children, with ornaments and daily stories.

• Daily Devotional for Adults and more

• Ann also has free downloadable Jesse Tree ornaments coloring pages that you can download here