Maggi Dawn writes
The first Sunday of Advent is the beginning of the Church year, the liturgical journey that explores not only the story but the meaning of salvation. Creation as the start of everything is a theme that is often highlighted at this time.
It is also the beginning of our preparations for Christmas—and, as Christmas celebrations are creeping further and further back into December, Advent is focused more on Christmas than it ever used to be. The preparation for Christmas, and the stories of the nativity, are a key part of the later weeks of Advent. (Beginnings and Endings (and What Happens in Between): Daily Bible Readings from Advent to Epiphany P11)
Today in churches around the world the first candle was lit, a candle of hope of promise a candle for the prophets who proclaimed the wonderful message Of what God was going to do. During our Family Eucharist today our first candle was lit.. And we reflected on Advent and used the Godly Play material for Advent. Which we used last week for the story time at our monthly Kids club...
The opening words to today I love almost as much as the words from the Holy Family "wonderful in a Easter kinda way.
The opening words to today I love almost as much as the words from the Holy Family "wonderful in a Easter kinda way.
A King is coming, but he is not the kind of king that people thought was coming. This King had no army, no great house, and no riches. This King was a baby who was born in a barn.
The King who was coming is still coming. This is full of mystery. You know, a mystery is hard to enter sometimes. That is why this time of Advent is so important. Sometimes people can walk right through a mystery and not even know it is there. This time of year you will see people hurrying in the malls buying things and doing this and that, but they will miss the Mystery. They don’t know how to get ready or maybe they just forgot.
Things were slightly bigger than I'm used too... we had the first tile on the big screen throughout most of the service... which was great to do but I do like sitting in a little circle on the carpet to tell the story.
As part of the service FrM shared this video
It is so easy to miss the what advent is all about..This time of year you will see people hurrying in the malls buying things and doing this and that, but they will miss the Mystery. They don’t know how to get ready or maybe they just forgot. it's not just those who are rushing about in shops that my miss the mystery. I wonder when was the last time you stopped and reflected on what Christmas is about. Maybe this advent take up the challenge for just five (5) mins a day to think about what is this mystery to me...
there are plenty for resources for advent like the one mentioned above (link)
shared briefly about letting the kids touching interacting with the materials and take on the story for themselves to often the nativity set is to be looked at but not touched.....
During advent each sunday morning the rest of the ADVENTure will unfold...
I like the Godly play advent materials the best (they are lots better than the Lenten ones which aren't nearly as interactive)
ReplyDeleteI'd be interested to hear HOW you did it on the big screen (just the first tile ... rather than the unrolling of part of the story?)
What Fr M needs is a live camera where you could do it in the circle with the kids and show it to everyone in the church at the same time (giving you a lapel mike so they could hear you) ... but what you did seems to have bridged the gap for now. Well done!
I haven't used the Lenten ones yet... I saw them when I was doing my training.
ReplyDeleteOk so how.... I was at the front with the screen behind me I very much told t as i would have if sat in the circle but instead of small movements used large ones. I think it worked for this story and worked with the story telling side of me...
and the way the church is set out helped for us.
I don't think it would work for all stories
That would be a idea for the future if we had more children attending but the congregation really took to it.