Welcome!
We are delighted that your family has chosen to spend the next four weeks preparing and contemplating the coming of Christ Jesus. In our church calendar, these four weeks prior to Christmas are called Advent.
Our Godly Play curriculum explains Advent like this: “This time of year you will see people hurrying in the shops buying things and doing this and that, but they will miss the Mystery. They don’t know how to get ready and maybe they just forgot. The Church learned a long time ago that people need a way to get ready to enter or even come close to a mystery like Christmas. The Church set aside four weeks to get ready. During this time, we are all on the way to Bethlehem.”
This devotion book is designed to equip families to get ready for Christmas. Not get ready in the shopping, wrapping, and rushing sense. We want you to pause as a family. Read scripture together. Ask questions. Wonder why a particular passage was chosen. Sing familiar hymns.
We encourage you to dedicate a special time each day to reading these devotions together and lighting the candles on your Advent Wreath. Meal times are perfect for Advent devotions. Turn the lights down low so your candles glow bright.
Keep a family Bible handy so you can look up the scripture passages. Teach your children how to use the index at the front and/or the tabs on the side of the Bible. Take turns reading and lighting the candles.
Each week you will have one verse of a familiar hymn to sing together. Don’t be shy. The tunes can be found on our church website but the simplicity of singing acapella is a beautiful thing.
And now, we begin on our way to Bethlehem.