I love Advent!
See Christmas skits/sketches available here.
I love advent. It is the twinkly bit of Christmas, the building expectancy and the twinkly lights. Historically it provides our worship with a theme – the coming of the light into the world – and also with a illustrations in the form of the lighting of the advent candles and the christingle.
Since the theme is always the same we could of course get out the same candle-lighting liturgy each year, but we want fresh material so that people listen.
Take a look at these candle lighting scripts:
Candle Lighting – Future, Justice, Joy, Peace
Candle Lighting – Expectation, Preparation, Justice, Joy
You could get creative yourself, in which case the first thing to do is to examine what advent means to you. You could read through the lectionary readings for the period and use that as a basis but be warned it can leave you confused (apparently hopping from second-coming to first without warning) so bear in mind that there is an overarching theme of a time of preparation and waiting for The Light to come. How can you highlight that?
There are many books of advent ideas for purchase. Try the Christmas Store at Eden.co.uk. They can sell you the books and the candles too. Alternatively try your church’s usual supplier of resources.
But wait – there are many free resources online.
Advent Candle resources
Type Advent candle lighting script into Google and you will find a multitude of resources. Which ones are useful to you will depend what sort of church you are and how much of the service you want this to take.
- Candle lighting scripts and prayers by Rod
- Advent candle history, meaning and short prayers by Ken Collins
- Short and lovely candle lighting scripts by Gretta Vosper
- GBOD has a nice little video about advent wreaths and if you search their site a variety of readings aqnd prayers
But there is more to Advent than candles!
You would probably like more than words to say when lighting a candle. Here are other advent ideas:
- I’ve written several short Christmas dramas (sketches, skits) for you to download and use – The Hotel Inspector, Sheepville, Baby of the Week and The Other Christmas Story. Some are thought-provoking, mostly they are very funny, all are wonderful. Give them a look over!
- Christmas Carol Booklet from Action for Children and The Methodist Church in the UK
- Ideas for a Christingle Service, Carol Service and Christmas holiday club from Action for Children and The Methodist Church in the UK
- The Children’s Society Christingle pages have a wealth of christingle ideas and resources
- Has your church ever made Jesse Trees for advent? The Reformed Church in America has full Jesse Tree information and instructions.
- the Reformed Church in America ideas for all-age family/community Advent event. You could use this as a basis for one of your own.
These were some I liked. If you have more, share them using the facebook page!