We have gathered various resouces for Advent preparations on this page. Many of these ideas come from November's Lay Leader's Gathering. Special thanks to Lorraine Reinhardt and Rev. Elina Singh, and all who participated in the gathering and shared their ideas. This pages will be updated as more resources become available.
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Advent and Christmas Worship Resources
" The season of Advent begins a new church year and begins the cycle of telling the story of Jesus’ life and ministry. Advent takes on a more subdued tone than one might expect of a new year. Rather than beginning the new year as a race, Advent is about waiting and waiting along with the people of Israel for the Messiah...." an excerpt from the new resources posted on worship.ca. New Advent and Christmas worship orders available on worship.ca.
Music That Makes Community has gathered together various songs and other Advent resources for faith communities. All the songs are meant to be easy to sing even without accompaniment. You can find their resources here.
Engage Worship prepares an Advent resource that includes a church service package and resources for personal devotion. They also offer Tiny Advent Poems - 24 short poems by Amy Scott Robinson. The poems and accompanying images can be downloaded and shared. You can find them here.
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Randomly Selected Book List for Worship Planning
Curated by Lorraine Reinhardt
- Evangelical Lutheran Worship family of resources
- Hymnal
- Leader’s Desk Edition
- Keeping Time by Gail Ramshaw and Mons Tieg
- All Creation Sings Worship Supplement
- Psalm Settings for the Church Year Volumes 1 and 2
- Sing a New Creation - Anglican Church of Canada Worship Supplement
- Candles and Conifers Resources for All Saints’ and Advent by Ruth Burgess
- Hay and Stardust Resources for Christmas to Candlemas by Ruth Burgess
- Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons by Jan Richardson
- Through the Advent Door by Jan Richardson
- Eucharistic Prayers by Samuel Wells and Abigail Kocher
- Agape Songs of Hope and Reconciliation - compiled by Maggie Hamilton and Päivi Jussila
- Sing the Circle Wide Songs of Faith from Around The World - compiled by Inshallah
- Wild Goose Publications
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Illustrated Ministry creates accessible faith-based resources for the church and home for all seasons of the church year. The thoughtful and easy-to-use materials are designed to foster authentic faith engagement with refreshing designs, creative activities, and intergenerational focus. The materials include worship resources, as well as resources for children, youth, and families. Their Advent resource, From the Manger, is now available.
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Sanctified Art creates seasonal resources of visual art and poetry for liturgical and devotional use. Their Advent resources include children's curricula, banner designs, liturgy and preaching resources, Advent calendars and devotionals, and more. You can access the resources here.
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Jesse Tree
The Jesse Tree tradition is rooted in Isaiah 11:1: “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” Jesse was the father of David, Israel’s greatest king. And Jesus is descended from the line of David. He is the branch God promised would grow from Jesse’s family tree. Each symbol represents a story from within this family tree and a step toward the birth of Jesus.
You can create a Jesse Tree in your home or your church to share the stories of Jesus's family tree - the stories of God's presence among God's people. You can find more information and ideas at faithward.org
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Devotionals for Individual and Congregational Use
Lutherans Connect: Seeds of Hope
Lutherans Connect offers an annual Advent devotional directly into your inbox. This year's theme is Seeds of Hope. We all come from a seed and the first seeds were given by God in the creation of the world. At a time of year when we have more darkness hours than daylight, it can be helpful to remember that the seeds of new life continue to germinate in the soil of the earth, preparing to come forth in their time. Write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com to subscribe, or find them on Facebook.
Preparing for Christmas with Prayer
Pr. Bruce Ehlert (ELCIC, Saskatchewan Synod) prepares daily prayers during Advent. You can subscribe to his prayer emails here.
Joy is the theme of the 2024 edition of LWF’s Advent calendar. Over 24 days, people across the communion will share short video messages about Advent and Christmas as a time of joy and hope. You can find out more here.
Joy of Heaven, Here on Earth is Luther Seminary's (ELCA) Advent devotional for 2024. You can either download the booklet on their website, or sign up for their God Pause devotional and receive it daily in your inbox.
Advent Reader from New Leaf Network
New Leaf Network is a collaborative, relational and creative missional organization that supports, equips and connects church planters, spiritual entrepreneurs and missional practitioners in post-Christian Canada. Their annual Advent Reader brings together various authors from different denominations, this year with a theme "Advent Undone: When the Mysteries of Christmas Have Come Unravelled." You can subscribe to the emails here.
Advent Devotionals by Kate Bowler
Kate Bowler is a theologian and writer who does not shy away from the hard days and hard feelings in life. She creates free Advent devotionals that can be accessed on her website.
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Resources from Partner Churches
Advent Unwrapped is United Church of Canada's Advent resource site. Visit the page for worship, music, prayers, and various other resources. You can find the page here.
Hope and Surprise: Reflections for the Season of Advent
Anglican Church of Canada's Primate's World Relief and Development Fund hosts annual Advent reflections. This year's reflections come from The Very Reverend Ken Gray, former Dean and Rector of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Kamloops, B.C. You can watch the daily reflections here.
New Way of Being Advent Series
The Moravian Church Northern Province Racial Justice Team is pleased to present its New Way of Being Advent Series for 2024. This year's theme is "The Doctrine of Discovery: What It Is and Why It Matters." There will be three one-hour sessions on December 4, 11, and 18 at 7:30 p.m. ET. All sessions will be on Zoom. There will be a guest presenter for each week. For more information and to get the Zoom link, please click here.
Lutheran Summer Music Advent Calendar 2024
Experience the anticipation and hope of the Advent season with Lutheran Summer Music's fourth-annual Musical Advent Calendar. From December 1-24, immerse yourself in a daily moment of music and reflection shared on our Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube pages and archived on our website at LSMacademy.org/acal.
To have these daily videos delivered straight to your inbox, sign up here.
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Other Advent Ideas
Shared by BC Synod lay leaders
- Create a prayer tree in your sanctuary. Use paper ornaments on which people can write down their prayers throughout the Advent.
- Each church year, the lectionary readings follow one of the gospels - Matthew, Mark or Luke. We never get the whole gospel, and we get it in small sections. Invite your congregation together at the beginning of the church year to read through the entire gospel for that year. This takes a couple of hours. Take turns reading, and have some snacks available.
- If you set up a nativity scene in your sanctuary, consider placing the characters on different parts of the sanctuary during Advent, to illustrate their journey towards Bethlehem.
- Create an Advent package for families to take home - a children's bulletin or a family devotional for each week, a nice candle holder and tea lights, maybe some treats. Consider delivering a package even to those families who don't attend often.
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Blessings as we prepare the way!
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