Advent at Home 2024

Introduction to the Advent at Home Resource

With the beginning of Advent, the church year starts anew. Advent is a time that invites us to prepare ourselves for the beauty and the mystery of the Christmas season. There is deep and ancient wisdom to intentionally marking these days of waning light that lead to Christ’s birth. 

This year, I've updated a resource I've used in parish contexts before, and am sharing it for local adaptation. You can access the file by clicking here. 

If you or your congregation are looking for a simple at-home resource for the season of Advent, perhaps this will help. You'll need to make some edits before distributing it, but the amount of work required to do so is minimal. Details on how to do that are at the end of this post. 

Some Reflections on Advent

It often seems that as the days grow ever shorter, our lives draw ever more inward. As the earth grows colder, we surround ourselves with those things that bring warmth and comfort. We draw closer together, as we hold out hope for new light and life made noticeable by the lengthening days after the winter solstice.

In Advent, we journey together through the valley of shadows preparing our hearts, our lives, our community, and the world for the birth of the one who will show us into the way of peace. As Mary’s song, the Magnificat, reminds us, the way of peace is revolutionary. God’s way of love casts down the proud and the mighty, all the while elevating and centering those who we, our church, and our society have cast to the side. 

All of this means that Jesus’ arrival doesn’t rehearse the same old script of power-hungry leadership. Instead, Jesus' arrival invites us to participate in God’s abundant dream for the world. This is a dream of beauty and life that travels the narrow road of truth, justice, and reconciliation. Jesus does not show up as we—or the world—expect. He arrives as a fragile, helpless, newborn baby. He greets us in vulnerability, inviting us to greet him in the same way. 

Christmas reminds that even the God of the Universe arrives amongst us seeking relationship, care, and community. When Jesus arrives on Christmas in what we Christians call the incarnation—the birth of God amongst us—it is not with a triumphal shout, but a hopeful whisper. 

This Advent, as we journey through the challenges and joys of this season of life, we do so watching and waiting expectantly for God’s whisper of hope. As we prepare our hearts, homes, and communities, may we listen for God’s audacious whisper inviting us to look for (and to become!) signs of divine love breaking into the darkness, leading us into the way of hope, peace, joy, and love.

Notes on the Booklet

• You'll need to download the document to your computer to edit it. Once you open the file, click on the "File" menu, and then "Make a Copy."
• You can access the file by clicking here. 
• The booklet is 24 pages long. When I was in Valhalla Parish, I had these printed by a local printshop, who taught me that booklet pages are always printed in multiples of four. If you are getting it printed in such a way, the best way to make it look professional is to have it printed as a saddle stitched booklet on 11x17 tabloid paper. This way, each page in the booklet will be the size of a full 8.5x11 sheet of paper. 
• The first page is a colour image. If that won't work for you (perhaps you're printing in Black and White?) feel free to delete the image and replace it with text.
• Read the booklet through. Would this work in your context? Would it work better with some tweaks? Feel free to update and adapt to your local context. 
• If it works fine as-is, you'll still need to update the yellow highlighted sections with parish-specific information (and remove the yellow highlights!)
• The Calendar of Services on Page 2 is very intentional. Whether you're handing this booklet to members of your congregation or sharing it more broadly, this is a simple way of letting people know when they can engage with your community during Advent and Christmas.
• Sharing this booklet can offer one low-barrier way of connecting with your friends and neighbours about Christmas, the Jesus story, and what happens in your congregation.
• In the parish where I last served, we always held opportunities for creativity and community building after the service during Advent (that's why they're noted here). If you're doing these, keep them in. If you're doing something different, make the change. If you're not doing community and connection-based activities, take them out so as not to confuse folks who show up to make beeswax candles on a day you're not offering that activity! 
• I wrote an introduction to the Season of Advent on Page 3. You could use it. You could adapt it. You could steal all the words and attribute them to yourself. You could write your own. Do what feels best to communicate the importance of this season in a way that speaks to more than just an insider audience
• Pages 4 & 5 include directions on how to use the booklet in a variety of contexts. Perhaps there are some other approaches or practices you want to invite people into. Try those also, or instead. 
• The Back Cover is designed to provide contact information for your parish. Don't forget to verify these details are correct and up-to-date.

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to reach out! 

Andrew