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Advent 2013 + Household Devotions

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AdventPicture

Just in time for the start of Advent!  A simple four week resource for gathering together to prepare your hearts and minds for Christmas. Please print, copy and handout (or share electronically!) to whomever you so desire.

This is a devotion that homes and families of all shapes and sizes will find to be worth their time in spending a few minutes together each week of this week Advent. These links will let you download whichever format works best for you.  Note that all the links will take you to our Mediafire site so you can view the files before you download them.

Booklet Style – prints as a landscape on 8.5 x 11 inch and folds into a booklet

A Page a Week – each page is one devotion, great for eReaders and tablets

Supplemental Images for make your own ornaments 

Here is an overview:

Faith+Connect-a ritual of lighting a candle, picking an ornament off your tree for your time together, and singing or listening to a Christmas song that fits the scripture for the day
Faith+Bible and Faith+ Chat–scripture and discussion prompts plus optional activities
Faith+Prayer–a prayer together
Faith+Blessing–a time to bless one another as the devotional time ends.

We encourage you to use this in your home and share with others. For all you wonderful youth directors, children’s ministers and pastors we encourage you to have this available for your congregations and visitors throughout Advent.

We love feedback so let us know if you used it and what you thought!
Link  supplemental pages

+Blessings to you all this Advent and Christmas,
Leta, Brigette, Gus

Faith + Home Connection, Resources

Blessing of the Christmas Tree

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Gather either around or near your tree!

Tell where you see God at Advent & Christmas and where you need God at Advent & Christmas.

 

 

Psalm 96:11-13

11Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;

12let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy13before the Lord; for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.

This tree is a blessing to our home. It reminds us of all that is beautiful, all that is filled with the gentleness and the promise of God. It stands in our midst as a tree of light that we might promise such beauty to one another and to our world. It stands like that tree of paradise that God made into the tree of life, the cross of Jesus. If you have young children or like good stories you may want to read “The Three Trees” by Angela Elwell Hunt

How can the Christmas tree remind you of the story of the birth of Jesus? How will it bless you in this Advent/Christmas season? How will you be a blessing to others?

Join in prayer together thanking God for where you see the Holy Spirit active and asking for help in where you need God this year.

 

 

Loving God, we come with joy to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, whose path of justice and inclusivity lights a path for all who follow him. May this tree, arrayed in splendor, remind us of the life-giving cross of Christ, that we may always rejoice in the new life that shines in our hearts. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now make the sign of the cross on one another and say, “Child of God, remember that you are a light of God’s love. Amen”

~LB

May use with permission for non profit only. Intellectual property rites apply.