One of the things that I remember most consistently about Advent is our Advent Wreath.   An Advent Wreath is a way to prepare each of the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas.

This is a spiritual and can be a somber activity. Advent is the beginning of the liturgical church calendar. It is a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus.

There are 4 candles in the wreath (usually 3 purple and 1 pink) and one in the center of the wreath that is white. The purple candles represent Christ’s royalty. Purple also represents the attitude of humility and repentance with which we anticipate His coming. The pink candle stands for God’s love and faithfulness.  The white candle in the center symbolizes Christ’s holiness and perfection. As the number of candles increases, so we near the celebration of His coming. The ever-increasing brightness heightens our anticipation of this day.

Each day at home, the candles are lit, perhaps before the evening meal — one candle the first week, and then another each succeeding week until December 25th. The pink candle is usually lit on the third Sunday of Advent. As the candles are lit, say a prayer or do a devotion anticipating the coming Christ.  All candles, including the white candle, are lit on Christmas Eve. The white candle signifies the birth of Christ.

Each of the four colored candles can represent different truths about Advent that you would like to emphasize. (i.e. hope/promise/light/love, specific names for Jesus, people in the story – Mary&Joseph/Angels/Shepherds/Wisemen, specific prophecies Jesus fulfilled, the salvation colors – black(sin)/red(Jesus’ blood)/white(our hearts washed white as snow)/yellow(the promise of eternal life in heaven), giving – God’s gift in Jesus/being content/giving to the needy/Jesus’ gift of eternal life, etc.)  Check our Advent Calendar for what our church is focusing on this year.

Your wreath can be as simple or complex as you like. (i.e. four votive candles on a plate, decorated toilet paper tubes with tissue paper flames, or a wreath created especially for Advent)

Here are some more online resources you can use for Advent.

Focus on the Family

Advent Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries

Christ the King Presbyterian Church – Advent Devotional

I’m looking forward to hearing what you and your family are doing to celebrate Advent.  I’d also love to post any pictures of wreaths or calendars you are using.  Don’t forget to send those my way!

We’re a week out from Advent, my friends.  So, now it is time to really plan what you will do with your family to ready your home and your hearts for the coming of the Christ child.

I am really excited because tomorrow I get to share my love of Advent and all that it entails with our church congregation.  If you’ve heard me talk about it or been following the blog thus far, you will have already heard what I have to say.  So, I will not go into it again.

However, I do have something new for you.  Here is the Advent Calendar I have made available for our church (and for you now) to use for Advent.  Please click here to download the PDF.

Each day this week, I will be giving you another way to celebrate Advent, waiting for the coming King.  Today, we’ll look at how to make the most of this Advent Calendar.  An Advent Calendar is a way to count down, day by day, from December 1, or the beginning of Advent, until Christmas Day.  Here are some tips for using an Advent Calendar:

1. The complexity and spirituality of this can have a wide range: from a simple countdown to a daily Scripture reading and activity to something simply fun to do each day.
2. The object you use as a calendar can vary depending on what you have on hand to what ages of children you have and how crafty (or not) you are:
   • A box or envelope to open each day.
   • A calendar with “doors” to open for each day that reveal a picture or verse or activity.
   • A paper chain with one link per day.
   • A bulletin board or tree with numbered tags to look at each day.
   • Anything! Use your creativity!

Here are a couple of links to get your juices flowing.  Both of these sites have tons and tons of ideas to keep you busy or to give you a fresh outlook on an old story:

A Christian Christmas Advent Calendar

Teaching Mom’s Advent Calendar

Please leave comments with what you are doing with your family.  Send me pictures of any Advent Calendars you do and I will post them on the blog.

Advent is quickly approaching. (It starts on Sunday, November 28th.)  I have been hoping to really get our church involved in readying our hearts for the coming of Christ, especially the Sunday School classes and families.  So, prepare yourselves because this blog is about to become HQ for the Advent Crusader.

“Who is this Advent Crusader?” you say.

Well, it’s the new nickname I’ve coined for myself.  It might not catch on, but I will at least entertain myself for a few weeks.  Seriously, though, I didn’t realize that it is not the norm for people in evangelical Christian churches to celebrate Advent (the coming of the Christ child).  It was something my family did every year.  So, my quest has been laid out for me: to teach our families about Advent and give them some resources for how they might celebrate it with their families.

We want to bring Christ-centered meaning back to Christmas.  We want to put a time in each day during this season where we take a deep breath, sit down with our kids and remember that Christmas means that God, Creator of the Universe, came to Earth as a tiny, helpless Baby to forever restore mankind’s relationship with Him.
…because that was how God had it planned all along.
…because He promised it from the creation of the world.
…because He loves us so much that we were worth His one and only Son.
God sent us His Son… Emmanuel, which means “God with us”.  Okay, how can that NOT make you excited about Christmas??? (I can barely type because I’m shaking with excitement and my eyes are welling up with tears!)

So, this morning in her quest to get the Body of Christ excited about the Christmas season, the Advent Crusader (heretofore to be known as the AC), met with the ladies of Moms Connect.  This was a joyous adventure which included yummy food, lots of laughter and great community (all power-ups for the AC).  The ladies shared ideas for Advent that had worked in their families, and hopefully many hearts were sparked to pursue their own Advent celebrations.

One mom talked about story books that her family has read that help them to prepare for the coming of the Baby Jesus.  She said that all her kids enjoy them (preschoolers up through teens).  Here are the links for the three books she mentioned:

Jotham’s Journey

Bartholomew’s Passage

Tabitha’s Travels

Thanks for the suggestion!  Please, everyone, feel free to comment and share what your family has done to celebrate Advent.  We can all benefit!

There will be much more Advent stuff coming on the blog and on my Twitter feed @fcovkids!  So, keep on coming back!  The AC will return!! [insert gleeful, yet slightly mischievous, laugh]