On the Road for Advent

This year our Advent theme in worship is "On the Road..." as we draw closer to Jesus and celebrate that the incarnation means that God travels all roads to get to us. Our worship services will all be online (contact Pastor Alissa for access). While we can't gather physically, you may consider introducing your own regular Advent practice at home. Find some suggestions below.

Prayer & Reflection

Click here for a list of the season's Scripture texts, to do your own reading and reflecting.

Common Prayer, a liturgy for ordinary radicals is daily prayer you can follow year-round.

Goshen College faculty, staff, and students conutribute to daily Advent (and Lent) devotionals, based on the lectionary Scriptures, that you can receive by email or read on their website.

Advent A to Z is a daily email prayer break with Scripture and related reflections, with suggestions for further exploration. This series is based on Sacred Space—the trusted online prayer site by the Irish Jesuits.

Starry Black Night is a Womanist Advent devotional put out by Unbound: An Interactive Journal of Christian Social Justice and features a fantastic lineup of Black women pastors, preachers, professors, activists, and community leaders. Read online or download the PDF, also follow daily word reflections on Instagram.

Everyday Abbey offers God's Hospitality, simple questions for weekly reflection on Scripture and ways to respond on the theme of becoming vulnerable to being welcomed by others. 

Jan Richardson invites people to a contemplative Advent of art, music, and reflection through Illuminated: An online journey into the heart of Christmas.

CommonWord at Mennonite Church Canada has many options of books to borrow or buy for the Advent season.

Great for Kids (and adults)

Advent-at-Home is designed for all ages and uses the lectionary texts we hear in worship. This year's "We Wait for Jesus" resource is written by Talashia Keim Yoder, pastor of Christian Formation at College Mennonite Church in Goshen, Indiana.

Illustrated Ministry makes thoughtful devotionals, colouring pages, and crafts that bring the Bible and church seasons to life. Browse their family resources and other Advent items. The "Do not Be Afraid" Illustrated Devotional and package for families have both been purchased by HMC. Contact Pastor Alissa to receive the pdf. SALT is another organization that makes devotional items to purchase and download.

The Jesus Storybook Bible has a free downloadable Advent guide that includes printable ornaments and activity ideas.

Christine Sine at her Godspace blog has an updated 2020 list of ideas for doing Advent and Christmas with children, like Advent colouring pages, an ADVENTure prayer walk, and lots of calendars or wreaths.

Here's a colouring book of the Christmas story from the United Church of Canada.

Here are some ideas for Advent stories for children and Christmas story books for children.

Advent Calendars

Advent Calendars aren't only filled with chocolate. Here are some that offer various practices for each day of the season:
Meaningful daily practices
Praying in Colour
With kids especially in mind, watch this video at Simplistic Happiness for a creative, versatile Advent calendar full of meaningful family activites. Or use some of these ideas for an Acts of Kindness Advent calendar.

#AdventWord is a global, online Advent calendar, offering meditations and images to connect to daily Advent themes, and to which you can add your own images using the hashtag #AdventWord and the word of the day.

A Reverse Advent Calendar is a daily practice of generosity. Instead of receiving chocolate, you give a gift each day to count down until Christmas, and then donate it. For example, food items for the Welcome Inn, hygiene items for Wesley Urban Ministries or winter gear to Mission Services. You could also collect money every day for our HMC Advent Giving Project.

Giving

There are many more ways to enter into the generosity of the season. For example, supporting the Christmas giving suggestions of organizations like MCC and MEDA. 

As a congregation, we are inviting donations to our annual Advent Giving Project. Stay tuned for pictures of HMC kids decorating their trees at home, a little more for every $25 raised! The HMC Christmas tree will also get more decorations every week.