SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER
Today’s Services:
Access our streamed services here.
Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the season leading 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 HOPE. We can have hope because the bible assures us that God is faithful and will keep his promises.
We celebrate the truth of God’s promises in today’s kids’ song, Rainbow.
Activities, if needed, to keep hands busy while listening to Tim’s talk:
- Colouring 1, 2, 3, 4
- Advent Wordsearch (two difficulty levels)
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.
Make an Advent Wreath. Collect greenery from your garden, three purple candles, one rose candle and one large white candle. The white candle is placed in the centre of the wreath, and the purple and rose candles are placed equal distances around the wreath. Alternatively, you can use all white candles and wrap a purple/pink coloured band around each of the outside candles.
If you make your wreath a centrepiece for your table, kids can look forward to lighting the candles each night at dinner. One purple candle (HOPE) is lit the first week. Two purple (+PEACE) candles are lit the second week. The two purple and one rose (+JOY) candle are lit the third week, and all four (+LOVE) are lit the final week. The central white (CHRIST) candle is lit on Christmas Day.
Advent wreath crafts can be an no-flame alternative or additional activity, e.g. Kid’s Advent Wreath using cardboard rolls, Wall art idea.
Do some Googling for inspiration, get creative and share a photo of your creation in our Parents’ Facebook page, to encourage others.
Family Advent Devotional: Take the time to read and chat about a few Bible verses each day, in conjunction with lighting the candles. Here are a couple of examples, but there are lots of ideas available on the web – find one that suits the age of your kids:
- For younger families: Family Advent Devotional with daily bible readings, activity/reflection, and you can colour the page when you’re done! Another Advent colouring book with bible readings.
- Suitable for families with older kids: Devotions & Christmas Cards.
Today’s St John’s Kids Zoom Sessions:
This week’s 4:00pm session is aimed at Kinder/Prep. Join here. (Meeting ID: 851 2223 8327 / Password: 999682)
This week’s 4:40pm session is aimed at Grade 1. Join here. (Meeting ID: 427 566 0968 / Password: one)
If you have not already read, or need to refer back to, the details of these sessions, please see this previous post. Remember, 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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