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A UMNS Report
By The Rev. Kathy Noble*
7:00 A.M. ET Nov. 30, 2011
Advent is a time of preparation as children light the second candle of
the family advent wreath. An Interpreter file photo illustration by
Ronny Perry.
View in Photo Gallery
Shopping on Black Friday — DONE!
Supporting Small Business Saturday — DONE!
Worshipping on the First Sunday of Advent — DONE!
Online ordering on Cyber Monday — DONE!
The gift buying, tree decorating, party planning and other
pre-Christmas tasks can easily overshadow Advent and spiritual
preparation for remembering Christ’s birth. While Advent 2011
began on Nov. 27, 25 days remain before Christmas, plenty of time to
use Advent devotions and activities delivered via email, downloaded to
your computer or mobile device or accessed on the Web.
“The Journey” Smartphone app
is based on the new book by the Rev. Adam Hamilton, but it also
functions as a standalone Advent calendar. The app, available for
iPhone, iPad and Android devices, opens with seven unlocked activities
for children. A new one (videos, coloring sheets, puzzles, cards, Bible
quizzes) opens daily starting Dec. 1.
A daily online retreat
offers group discussion in addition to Scripture reading, reflection
and guided prayer practices. Upper Room Ministries, a part of the
United Methodist Board of Discipleship, and www.BeADisciple.com are
sponsoring the Nov. 27 – Dec. 25 retreat based on “Behold! Cultivating
Attentiveness in the Season of Advent,” a new book by Pamela Hawkins.
Lighting the candles of an Advent wreath weekly or daily allows
individuals and families to focus on the coming of Christ into the
world. If you missed lighting a candle on the first Sunday of Advent,
choose another time this week to do so and then continue the tradition
for the next three Sundays, beginning Dec. 4, and on Christmas Eve.
The Board of Discipleship’s worship resources staff offers weekly candle lighting meditations
to use throughout Advent. Each includes a Scripture reading, short
prayers and one stanza of a hymn or song. For those without an Advent
wreath, Dean McIntyre, discipleship’s director of music resources,
suggests, “Use candles alone — four of similar size and color for the
four Sundays (purple or blue is traditional), and a white candle in the
center for Christmas Eve.”
Advent wreath lighting liturgies
can also be downloaded from the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries' website and adapted for home use. Each uses a verse of the
song “Yalla magg na” (Senegalese for “The Child of Hope is Coming”),
Scripture and prayers. Among the meditation writers is John Daniel
Gona, who served as a global ministries’ mission intern with the Wi’am
Palestinian Conflict Resolution Center in Bethlehem.
Free daily Advent devotions with the theme of “Passing the Peace” are delivered
daily by email from the Society of St. Andrew. Writers reflect on
where they have witnessed or been an instrument of God’s peace in the
world. Each email includes a link where readers can donate to Society
of St. Andrew’s hunger-fighting ministry in the United States.
“Expecting the Word” is a free daily devotional study, which can be read online or downloaded.
The National Council of Churches published the study, based on the
texts for Advent from the “Revised Common Lectionary,” through its
Justice for Women’s Working Group. The United Methodist Board of
Church and Society is part of the group.
For more Advent and Christmas resources, visit www.umc.org/advent.
*Noble is editor of Interpreter and Interpreter OnLine, publications of United Methodist Communications.
News media contact: Kathy Noble, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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