Advent at Home – 2020
ADVENT AT HOME
To help us celebrate Advent during the pandemic, our deacons have prepared a special Advent-at-Home goody bag for our members and friends. (If you are local, and don’t yet have yours, please contact us to arrange pickup or delivery! If you are farther afield, we invite you to find your own materials, and improvise!)
What’s in the bag?
Inside the bag are a variety of materials to help you celebrate Advent at home. Each Wednesday of Advent we will send out a message inviting you to prepare for the coming Sunday’s worship with a special activity.
Preparing for Advent I – Sunday, November 29
Prepare Your Advent Candles!
One of the beloved traditions of our Advent worship is the weekly lighting of the Advent candles — symbols of hope, peace, joy, and love. This year, we remember that the advent wreath was a tradition practiced at home, even before it became part of our church rituals. We invite you to join in this centuries-old tradition! Each week, as we worship online, let us light our candles at home — apart, yet together.
In your “Advent-at-Home” bag you will find four votive candles — three white, and one pink — one for each Sunday of Advent, representing Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. Your Advent activity for this week is to prepare an Advent “wreath” — a special (and safe) place for the weekly lighting of the candles during Sunday worship. Your arrangement can be as traditional or creative as you like. Then, on Sunday, be sure to have a match or lighter handy as you begin your worship at the ‘Brickless’ Church, so we can light our candles at home, together. Or, create your own ritual at home.
Preparing for Advent II – Sunday, December 6
Building Peace!
On the second Sunday of Advent, we light a candle for Peace. As we prepare for this Sunday, we invite you build a symbol of peace, from the pieces of origami paper in your Advent-at-Home kit. (If you don’t have a kit, you may use any square piece of paper; it is best if it is colored on one side.) You will find a clear, step-by-step video lesson here:
Origami Peace Crane Instructions
It’s easy to do — even your pastor managed to follow these instructions! When you are done, send us a photo, and we will share it in next week’s announcements! Then, perch your peace crane somewhere in your home where you will see it daily. Let your peace crane be a reminder, that we are called not just to enjoy peace, but to build it.
Preparing for Advent IV – Sunday, December 13
Sharing Joy!
On the third Sunday of Advent, we light a candle for Joy. This week, we invite you to join in one of the joyful rituals
of Advent — decorating the tree! In your Advent-at-Home kits, you will find two clear ornaments — empty, waiting to be filled by you. Open yours up, and fill it with some word or scene or token of the season (see examples below for inspiration!). Then close the ornament tight, lining up the little holes. Thread a paperclip through the holes, and you are ready…..
….to hang your ornament on the OUTDOOR CHRISTMAS TREE at the Brick Church! Since we cannot invite the neighbors this year, we are spreading the cheer outside our doors with a tree on the front steps. Our Sexton/Stylist, Tom Mershon, will be setting up the tree this Saturday, so come by anytime after to see it — and add your own personal ornament to its branches!
Preparing for Advent IV –
Welcoming Love!
This Sunday, we light a candle for love — the Love that welcomes us all. In your Advent-at-Home bag, you will find a white paper bag, and a battery-operated candle. Put them together, and you have… luminaria! You can personalize your luminaria by adding artwork or decorations, or by cutting or punching holes for the light to shine through.
On Christmas Eve, we invite you to place your luminaria in a window, where it will shine in welcome for all to see. Or — if you wish — stop by the Brick Church on Christmas Eve, and place your luminaria on the steps by our Christmas Tree.
