SUNDAY 6 DECEMBER
Save the Date:
Sunday 13 December, Stars in the Shire – Community Carols service, 6:30pm live on YouTube.
Find more details about all our Christmas services here.
And …
We will be having an IN-PERSON social get-together for our St John’s Kids families!
Sunday 20 December, Anthony Beale Reserve Playground, 277 St Helena Road.
Some of the St John’s Kids team will be there from 11:30am-3:30pm with Christmas activity packs for the kids. Come for lunch (BYO picnic – there are also BBQ facilities available) or an afternoon play, or just drop by for a quick hello and collect your pack if you have other commitments that day. We are very much looking forward to seeing you in-person after so long.
Today’s Services:
Access our streamed services here.
Today is the second Sunday of Advent – the season in the lead up to Christmas, when we prepare for the coming of Jesus. We light a candle each week to remind us that Jesus brings light into the world. This week we light the candle of PEACE. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Through him we can experience God’s peace. We can also look forward to the time when Jesus will come again and the world will be at peace – an end to hostility and fighting, when harmony and justice will be restored.
Activities, if needed, to keep hands busy while listening to Andi’s talk:
- Advent: Peace – Colouring 1, 2, 3, 4
- Advent: Peace – Crossword, Decoder, Wordsearch
- Hebrews 11: Hall of Faith – Wordsearch
Advent Activities:
I encourage you to be intentional this Advent season, making Jesus the focus of the season, rather than Santa, presents and other commercial aspects of Christmas.
If you missed last week’s post about Advent Wreaths and Family Advent Devotionals (incl. activities, reflections and craft), head here.
Another fun activity is to create an Advent Chain. This printable features 25 names that Jesus is known by, with a bible reading for each. The creator chose a purple/silver colour scheme to represent royalty, but you may choose to go for Christmassy green and red, or any other colours you have on hand.
I’m not sure why (please enlighten me if you know) but the tradition for Advent Chains is to make the chain and then remove a link each day and read/discuss the applicable verse. However, I prefer to start with one link and add one each day, so that you are left with a decoration to leave up. If you have already undertaken a daily Advent devotional, you may not wish to add another daily activity, but may choose to do this over one weekend instead.
Today’s St John’s Kids Zoom Sessions:
These are our last sessions for 2020. Next week is our Carols service – Stars in the Shire, and we will be meeting, in-person, at Anthony Beale Reserve Playground, the week after that. Subject to COVID-restriction numbers and density quotients, we are hoping to start services and kids’ programs in-person early in the new year.
This week’s 4:00pm session is aimed at Grade 2/3. Join here. (Meeting ID: 835 5428 1268 / Password: 112358)
This week’s 4:40pm session is aimed at Grade 4/5/6. Join here. (Meeting ID: 824 5675 6927 / Password: Grade456)
If you have not already read, or need to refer back to, the details of these sessions, please see this previous post. You must complete a permission form if you would like to leave your child(ren) unsupervised in our online sessions.
If you encounter problems connecting to a meeting, check the Parents’ Facebook group. If we’ve had any tech issues and need to publish new meeting details, that’s where they will be. Also, please use this group to post a question, or to share ideas and encourage each other.
Have a great week!
Kylie – Children & Families’ Minister
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