advent resources for the season

as advent begins and the reality of december hits us, i thought we all might need some resources to help us embrace the season. i've suggested most of these in years past, but here are some of my favorite places to go for personal inspiration, ideas for worship and ideas to use with your family and friends.

if you have younger kids, either at home or in your community, check out the blog advent waiting that troy
bronsink and his friends put together last year.

my favorite prayer space, sacred space has an entire page of resources and
my personal favorite place for weekly inspiration is from st. elizabeth of hungary a church in new york that does an amazing slide show meditation for each week of advent.

my friend travis at the work of the people
has an entire section of videos for advent and there is a new one each week during this advent season.

the advent conspiracy is a complete way of doing advent as a worshiping community.
my good friend dan kimball andt vintage faith have participated in this the last couple of years and it helps us see beyond the "getting" to the giving to others that is the true meaning of the season.

in our book sacred space, dan and i have two great worship experiences for advent/christmas. one is called "waiting on God" and the other is "following the star". each features a series of prayer stations that can be set up as one worship experience or used to compliment a sermon/teaching series. the great thing about the book (if i do say so myself) is that all the signage for all the prayer stations and experiences are on the CD in the back...they're all on word docs so you can tweak them for you own group or print out "as is "  also photos of stations and all the supply lists are included too! you can join our sacred space facebook group and share your own sacred space ideas!

if you're looking for ways to give back this advent season, you might check out the heifer project and world vision. both have great gift ideas that don't involve going to the mall! our family has given gifts from both of these great organizations and we love to see the reactions when people open a card and know they've given a goat or some ducks to a family who will have a better life because of them!

another great ministry to check out this season is la lemonade. mac and a group of guys from vineyard central spent time with tita and her great teaching staff down in guatamala last summer. tita has created two schools in the dump and brought the love of jesus to the kids in this gang infested wasteland.
this christmas for a mere $15 you can give a pair of shoes to a child that may never have had a pair.
check out the la lemonade blog.

that's quite a list...and not one that i want to give you to add more to your or my own "to do lists"

what i really want for myself and for my friends this advent is for each of us to take the time to slow down and notice the "little lights"  of the season...the glimpses of jesus around us...in the smile of a child as they see the christmas lights, at the taste hot chocolate in front of the fireplace, the beauty of a sunrise or a sunset, the frost on the grass or a windsheild or the first or second snowfall as it covers everything in cleansing white. 

the people living in darkness have seen a great light...look for the light in even the small things this season!

Comments

[Steve]

Glad to see Lilly Lewin blogging again...thanks for the Advent links.