I love this time of year... there is such an air of anticipation, light, music, decoration; it is just a feast for the senses! This makes it a particularly good and easy time to share the story, and point out some ways to use things many of us are already using and doing to share the experience with those who have special needs...
The Wreath:
There is SO much teaching you can do with your Advent wreath! Starting with the colors of the candles, purple for Jesus's kingship, and repentance for our sins, and rose for joy. Some like to focus on a theme for each week: though none are required, typically you will see themes of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. With the shape and if it is made of evergreens- you've got a nice little reminder of the eternal life we hope for.
Creche:
There is not a much more visual (and tactile) way to keep our hearts in the reason for this season, tell the story of the Incarnation, and also teach about the preparation and anticipation that by using a beautiful creche. There are a couple of ways you can do this, I have seen people put pieces out one by one, over the course of the month, or have it all out, but wait until Christmas to place baby Jesus in the manger with a prayer. Some have their Wise Men travel around the room, arriving at the creche on the Epiphany- which is also a good way to emphasize not only our own journey to Jesus, but also that Christmas is a season, and not just a single day :-) If you are able, it is worth investing in a creche that can be safely manipulated, but does not look like a toy. You will be amazed at the story telling and arranging you see.
Advent Calendar:
There are many different kinds of Advent calendar, which is wonderful because you can find one that best suits your needs. There are some calendars like this that are more visually based: each compartment contains a magnetic figure to add to the scene in the middle, which allows you to introduce and talk about each person, animal or object one at a time. Then, throughout the month we slowly see the picture emerge, which again, is an opportunity to talk about preparing and
anticipation.
A calendar like this one could almost act as a simplified Jesse Tree, but requires a little more reading and focus than the one above. For each day there is a small booklet, which can then be hung on a tree as an ornament. In each booklet is a bible story, a song, or a prayer which can be read, sung or prayed together. The stories are simply, but well written, and so are very easy to follow and read aloud. I will say this, having used this calender in a classroom setting: this one can be difficult to use in a large group, if they are one that needs or will push to see the pictures right away, only because the booklets are very small. I can also attest to the fact that it is durable! :-)
Of course you do not have to buy an Advent Calendar... a perennial favorite is the Advent Chain- this was made clear by the absolute joy my religious ed class had this past weekend creating a chain to help decorate the children's activity area for our festival! One really nice thing about this is how personal it is, plus you can also make action oriented, and colored according to the weeks of Advent, Christmas colors, or many colors if you choose! One neat tradition I have seen with this chain is to include some some small action for each day, it could be service oriented, spiritually/prayer oriented, and also include a few things for enjoyment (like make hot chocolate and read a book with someone or take a walk to look at Christmas lights.)
Music:
Music has power to evoke emotion and tell a story, with or without words. That said, does it sometimes seem like "O Come O Come Emmanuel" (beautiful and rich as it truly is) is about the only Advent song in existence? This is one album that brought some beautiful, different and surprising songs to my attention. I highly recommend supporting the Sisters and purchasing the CD, but if you just need one song, or want to listen first, pretty much the whole album is on YouTube. These songs convey a quiet beauty, stillness and longing that complements any Advent prayer time or lesson.
You can even find some surprises on what seems to be a secular Christmas album! (Gotta put a plug in for this one too- but won't spoil it, check it out on YouTube, and I am guessing if you don't know Pink Martini it might take a little getting used to, but will quickly become part of your Christmas-time repertoire)
The Jesse Tree is named as you probably guessed, for King David's father. It is basically a way to trace salvation history (and the lineage of Jesus) visually and scripturally, and beginning on December 17th, with the O Antiphons, the anticipation intensifies, and we examine some attributes of Jesus (i.e wisdom of God, key of David...). Again, this is a wonderfully visual way to explore salvation history- it is scripturally rooted, but naturally breaks the story into "bite sized pieces". Each day a (usually pretty short) Scripture passage is read, and the ornament with the corresponding symbol is hung on a bare tree (branch). You can take as much or as little time as you have to explore the symbols, but it is pretty much guaranteed the ones you do this with will remember the story :-) There are many ways to make these ornaments, this is the pattern I followed: http://healthy-family.org/free-jesse-tree-advent-patterns/ but if you are feeling crafty, this will at least tell you the symbols to include, and scripture passages :-)
Next week we'll talk about some good books to share during this time!
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