Advent – The First Sunday

I was excited to find an evergreen wreath and taper candles in the traditional advent colors a few weeks ago. Last year, we our advent wreath was a bit ad hoc with votives on a glass tray. This is the first year we will be incorporating lighting the advent candles and reading the Advent Scripture into our Advent rhythm. For the past 5 years, we’ve been observing Advent with singing hymns, praying, and going through the Scriptures with a Jesse Tree that Auntie L gave us.

The purple candle for the first week of Advent represents prophecy. These are the Bible passages we’ll be reading this week.

Sun. Is. 40:1-5
Mon. Is. 52:7-10
Tue. Is. 40:9-11
Wed. Gen. 3:8-15
Thu. Gen. 15:1-6
Fri. Deut. 18:15-19
Sat. Ps. 89:1-4

And the first Advent hymn the boys requested was:

Joy to the World!
Joy to the world! the Lord is come:
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the earth! the Saviour reigns:
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make his blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness,
And wonders of his love.

Trinity Hymnal #149

Posted by TulipGirl | 03:11 PM| TrackBack (0) | Words

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Comments

That's great! Our Advent wreath finally came together...thank you for your input on my blog, it freed me from the perfectionism that was bogging me down. Our observance Sunday night was wonderfully blessed.

I'm so glad you had time to do this with your kids. I so wish that my older boys had this in their memory banks.
Posted by: Kathy at November 30, 2004 03:29 AM

It's been hard trying to have "normal life" mixed in with what is going on here. It would probably be easier, if it weren't also Christmas season. Honestly, my good intentions of Christmas cards being mailed out by Dec 1st have flown out the window. . . Still working on getting Christmas presents for family in the States mailed on time. We'll see.

So, it's been extra nice having our advent time each evening. Personally, I need more consistency and routine in my life and the little ways I can support that really make a difference.

Anyway, as I told my neighbor, it's time to stand for order and against corruption--in my house. It's gotten a bit messy this past week. *grin*
Posted by: TulipGirl at November 30, 2004 10:10 AM

I would love to see a picture of the felt jesse tree. Maybe I could make my own...

Do you send a lot of presents back for Christmas? We try to send as few as possible. Mainly to the people who really really need to get something from us - Joe's mom - to feel loved and remembered. Most family don't feel they have to send us something, which is a relief. I wonder if Jr will get many mailed gifts. This is his first Christmas here. Last year we went home for a month.
Posted by: Jane at December 2, 2004 01:26 PM

I'll take a photo of it soon. The link to Carol's blog post above links to a site that gives symbols/ideas for a Jesse Tree. My boys were 2 and 14 months the first year we did it, and they really liked it.

We don't mail many gifts. Actually, we usually send them via people visiting here, and usually Christmas gifts don't arrive until January. . . Hubby's Mom has sent us a few packages but usually gives money. (And Carol sent us a package last year!) This year I'm working on a project for our immediate family members, but don't want to mention it here because my sister might be reading. *eg* I'll e- you soon. . . It's mailable.

We have a Christmas eve party and worship with our teammates, and that has been VERY important for us. I really can't imagine being overseas without some support of teammates.
Posted by: TulipGirl at December 2, 2004 02:08 PM

This is a great time of year to consider a trip to London. The city is a shopper’s paradise and the holiday season is the perfect time to sample the delights. The Christmas lights and magical window displays are enchanting. Indulge in Christmas cake, mince pies, Christmas pudding and mulled wine then head to the streets to fill your shopping bags full of goodies.
Posted by: John Smith at December 17, 2004 06:22 AM

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