Advent 2018
We all love to get ready for birthdays. We celebrate them with family and friends. Advent is a time of waiting for Christmas, the birthday of Jesus. We rejoice that he was born in a Bethlehem stable over 2,000 years ago, and we look ahead to the time that Jesus will come again at the end of time. Advent helps us remember that Jesus comes to us every day of our lives, if we make a place for him in our hearts.
ADVENT CALENDARS
All children who attend Children's Liturgy of the Word will receive an Advent calendar that suggests ways to prepare for Jesus' coming with prayers, acts of kindness, and good deeds. (Click HERE to print out an Advent calendar.)
They will also receive a "Countdown to Christmas" calendar. Each day of Advent, they can open a door on the calendar to reveal a Christmas message or icon.
ADVENT TREES During CLOW, the children will decorate and hang special ornaments on the three trees on the meeting room wall.
THE JESSE TREE: stories and symbols
We will get ready for Jesus’ birthday by decorating Jesus’ family tree, the Jesse tree. Jesse was the father of King David, one of the ancestors of Jesus. We will decorate the Jesse tree with ornaments that remind us of God’s people who waited thousands of years for Jesus to come. They kept hope alive by believing in the promise of God. These people were good, holy people and have interesting stories! In these stories, we hear about God’s love and patience with his people over the centuries. With the people in these stories, we experience God’s grace – his life and love in us.
During Children’s Liturgy of the Word, an older child will read the story of one of Jesus’s ancestors, and we will look at a symbol, something that will remind us of that person. Each Sunday in Advent, we will read four or five stories and hang the symbols on our Jesse tree.
You can make your own Jesse tree at home: Decorate a bare branch with symbols that represent Jesus’s family tree, or tape the symbols on a tree you have drawn on a poster. Click on the buttons below to print out Jesse tree coloring sheets, and to find the stories. Color and cut out the symbols. Each day, read one of the stories and hang the symbol on your tree. You can also find and read the verse in your Bible or in the New American Bible on the USCCB site online. Sometimes you might want to read a little bit before and after the verse.
ADVENT CALENDARS
All children who attend Children's Liturgy of the Word will receive an Advent calendar that suggests ways to prepare for Jesus' coming with prayers, acts of kindness, and good deeds. (Click HERE to print out an Advent calendar.)
They will also receive a "Countdown to Christmas" calendar. Each day of Advent, they can open a door on the calendar to reveal a Christmas message or icon.
ADVENT TREES During CLOW, the children will decorate and hang special ornaments on the three trees on the meeting room wall.
THE JESSE TREE: stories and symbols
We will get ready for Jesus’ birthday by decorating Jesus’ family tree, the Jesse tree. Jesse was the father of King David, one of the ancestors of Jesus. We will decorate the Jesse tree with ornaments that remind us of God’s people who waited thousands of years for Jesus to come. They kept hope alive by believing in the promise of God. These people were good, holy people and have interesting stories! In these stories, we hear about God’s love and patience with his people over the centuries. With the people in these stories, we experience God’s grace – his life and love in us.
During Children’s Liturgy of the Word, an older child will read the story of one of Jesus’s ancestors, and we will look at a symbol, something that will remind us of that person. Each Sunday in Advent, we will read four or five stories and hang the symbols on our Jesse tree.
You can make your own Jesse tree at home: Decorate a bare branch with symbols that represent Jesus’s family tree, or tape the symbols on a tree you have drawn on a poster. Click on the buttons below to print out Jesse tree coloring sheets, and to find the stories. Color and cut out the symbols. Each day, read one of the stories and hang the symbol on your tree. You can also find and read the verse in your Bible or in the New American Bible on the USCCB site online. Sometimes you might want to read a little bit before and after the verse.
TREE OF PRAYER: requesting help or expressing thanks
Children will write the names or draw pictures of the people they will pray for at Mass and throughout the week.
TREE OF KINDNESS: Good deeds
Children will write/draw a kind deed that they intend to do during the next week.
TREE OF PRAYER: requesting help or expressing thanks
Children will write the names or draw pictures of the people they will pray for at Mass and throughout the week.
TREE OF KINDNESS: Good deeds
Children will write/draw a kind deed that they intend to do during the next week.
Please stop by the meeting room and see our Advent trees taking shape!
Grace and blessings on your Advent path,
The Children’s Liturgy of the Word team
Grace and blessings on your Advent path,
The Children’s Liturgy of the Word team