Turning of the Seasons

One more time we find ourselves at the beginning of another Church Year. Advent is almost upon us shortly followed by Christmas. May we live this Season truly, not as the secular world does, in sales, early morning shopping, over the top consumption. May we live it truly, deeply and may this season of preparation not leave us unchanged.  In this time of year, American consumption becomes a Civic Virtue, and complaining about some seasonal temp at the mall wishing us "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas" makes all the greed, pushing, and stress "Christianized" I suppose.

This season is a time of preparation,  what do you do to prepare your heart for Jesus to come once again?  Since my children were little we gather in the twilight and read a special Vespers and light the Candles of the advent wreath. We give gifts to children whose families cannot afford them, we buy extra food for the Church's food outreach. What do you do?

Links to Advent resources.

Celebrating Advent in the Home: A well-designed 4-page download-and-print booklet  for celebrating Advent in the home. I have used this with my on kids since they were babies.

Advent meditations, following the daily lectionary and written by members of the congregation of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio. The achieve is also available as a PDF download.

St Nicholas: Discovering the Truth about Santa Claus. A wonderful web site. 'St. Nicholas Center is a virtual center, a web site, where people can learn about St. Nicholas; it provides resources for families, churches, and schools.' 'St. Nicholas, lover of the poor and patron saint of children, is a model of how Christians are meant to live. As priest and bishop, Nicholas put Jesus Christ at the center of his life and ministry. His concern for children and others in need or danger expressed a love for God which points toward Jesus, the source of true caring and compassion. Embracing St. Nicholas customs can help recover the true center of Christmas—the birth of Jesus.

Comments

[Dryvetyme]

Good list of links here. I myself have spent much time recently looking into the depth of expectancy that fills the Advent season. After years in a Pentecostal church where the whole season was consumed with the Christmas play and finagling friends into pews to see the play (as cheesy as it was), I have been commissioned by my church to work through the Advent passages to make it palatable for our Children's Church teachers. I'd appreciate your comments on my postings at my new blog. Granted, by the look of the blog's title, you can also tell that I've been dissecting and expounding upon Genesis for use in our Sunday School classrooms. And BTW, if you weren't sure, I'm the same guy from http://dryvetyme.blogspot.com and I hope that you've been doiing well....

[BruceA]

Thank you for the links! My son turned two this year, and my wife and I are trying to figure out how to teach him about Christmas, particularly how to make Jesus and not Santa Claus the central focus. It won't be easy when he's got four grandparents who love Santa Claus, but that St Nicholas site has some good ideas.

[J-Tron]

Hmmm... I don't get anything when I click on the Saint Nicholas link.

[Lorna]

lovely post

have to check out the links still too :)