Advent at Home

What traditions or creative practices do you have for entering into the Advent season? Here are just a few ideas for devotional practices to use at home between Sundays.

Sacred Advent is a daily email prayer break with Scripture and related reflections, with suggestions for further exploration. Sacred Advent is based on Sacred Space—the trusted online prayer site by the Irish Jesuits.

Common Prayer, a liturgy for ordinary radicals is daily prayer you can follow year-round.

Advent-At-Home is a booklet produced each year by Mennonite Church Canada, echoing the themes HMC will use in worship, and designed with families with young children in mind. You can download the booklet or pick up a hardcopy at church.

Christine Sine at her Godspace blog has lots more ideas for doing Advent with children.

Goshen College faculty, staff, and students conutribute to daily Advent (and Lent) devotionals, based on the lectionary Scriptures, that you can receive by email or read on their website.

Jan Richardson, theologian-artist-poet, designs an annual Advent retreat on her Advent Door blog with her art, poetry, and reflections.

Mustard Seed Associates has a free downloadable Advent colouring book, and Tom & Christine Sine have produced many other Advent resources at their website here.

Advent Calendars aren't only filled with chocolate, you can download one (here too) or make your own that encourages meaningful practices through the season.

Enter into the generosity of the season by supporting the Christmas giving suggestions of organizations like MCC, MEDA, and Welcome Inn. MCC's "Joy of Giving" catalogue can be picked up at church, and Welcome Inn's "Reverse Advent Calendar" below is a fun challenge.

CommonWord at Mennonite Church Canada has many options of books to borrow for the Advent season, and some resources can also be found in the HMC prayer room.