22 December 2024
Bible readings for today
Liturgical colour: VIOLET |
CollectE te Atua pono, e te Atua tika,
kia āritarita mātou i te tūmanako, i a mātou e tatari nei ki te whakatutukitanga o tāu kī taurangi i roto i a Īhu Karaiti, i tō mātou Kaiwhakaora. Whakarongo ki tēnei īnoi i runga i tōu aroha. Āmine. God, faithful and true, make us eager with expectation, as we look for the fulfilment of your promise in Jesus Christ our Saviour. Hear this prayer for your love’s sake. Amen. |
4th Sunday of Advent: Love / Aroha
Leaders InputFourth Advent Candle/Sunday: Love
“And in the end, everything else will turn out to be unimportant and inessential, except for this: Father, Child, and Love.” – St. (Pope) John Paul II The fourth candle of Advent represents Love, the ultimate love of God that He might send His only Son for us. Called the “Angel’s Candle,” the fourth candle of Advent is lit the Sunday before Christmas, and it is the color purple, leading us to eagerly await the new Kingdom of God on earth. [From hallow.com] 10 Minutes to More Love (Advent: Week 4)
So many made-for-Netflix holiday movies are about the same thing: being in love. I watched a movie called ‘Holi-Date’ a couple of weeks ago (take this as more of a confession than a recommendation) and realized mid-glass-of-wine that we somehow associate Christmas with the warm fuzzies of romance. But Jesus came with a love that was much better than that. This last week of Advent, let’s try to set aside what we’ve learned about love from Netflix and consider a completely different kind. Start by doing this: Light four candles: one for hope, one for peace, one for joy, and now the last for love. Take a deep breath. Consider this question in silence for 30 seconds: Who made you feel loved this year, and how did they do it? I’m willing to guess the last time you felt loved, it didn’t have anything to do with Netflix-like-romance. [Keep reading here...] |
The Reason for it all
As we get closer to the Advent season, I am reminded to keep everything in perspective. I can get overwhelmed with Christmas programs, lessons that need to be written, children that need my attention, and just normal everyday life. It seems as we do get closer to the holidays, we get busier. School programs, church functions, and family get-togethers all seem to crowd our calendar so much that it’s hard to enjoy it. Have we scheduled in time for Him? “Jesus is the reason for the season.” is a popular saying these days, but do we truly believe it? What on our calendar shows that He is our priority? Everything we do should lead us back to Him. The lessons, crafts, and activities that we do with our children show lead them to the birth of Jesus. Philippians 2:5-7 tells us, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.” Do we realize what Jesus did for us when He was born a child on this Earth? This verse says that Jesus “emptied Himself”. He did that for you and me. Can we empty our schedules to fit more of Him in? “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) We have all heard this verse and probably memorized it as a child. Do we realize what it’s saying? God loved us so much that He GAVE His only Son. He GAVE His Son to us because He loves us. Wow! That’s quite a love! Do the items on our calendars show our love towards Him? The question is: What am I doing to celebrate the real reason for it all? 
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Lighting the Candle of LoveEach week we gather together and light another candle. We see the light growing brighter and brighter as we get closer to the birth of the “Light of the World.”
Here is one way to do it (there are lots of different ways!): The focus this first week of Advent is Love. Light four candles to symbolize Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. Say: This is the candle of Love. God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to be with us and show us how to love others. We remember the angels who announced this great love to the world and celebrated the birth of Jesus. Read: Luke 2:15-20, about the shepherds visiting Jesus and sharing what they heard from the angels. Ask: I wonder how the shepherds shared the message of God’s love? I wonder how we can show God’s love to others this week? Pray: Thank you, God, for your great Love, shown to us in Jesus. Help us to love others as you love us. Here's another simple liturgy for lighting your candles in the Advent Wreath, from Build Faith written by Rev. Matthew Kozlowski. I wonder
Kids TalksA easy low stress way to travel through advent with your kids is (instead of a talk) to simply to share a part of the Christmas story each week and wonder about it together. Try these:
The Gift of Love - a simple talk on the greatest gift - God's love. Advent fun sheetsWe have put together activity sheets for each Sunday in Advent. Download the love fun sheet or the whole series
Kids ActivitiesChristmas CraftThe fourth week of Advent is for love - the amazing love of God who sent his only Son for us. It's sometimes associated with angels as it was the angels who announced this amazing news to the world! Here are a few crafts to remind us:
StrandzAs we approach Christmas, we're mindful that the flurry of Christmas services are not far off. We've kept suggestions here quite light, but feel free to go and explore our Christmas ideas over on www.strandz.org.nz or our previous pages.
Meri Kirihemete! |
Kiwi Advent Illustrations
You can download these Kiwi Advent Illustrations over on our Strandz
Or this one - Emmanuel God With Us Intergenerational AdventIntergenerational Resources for all the weeks of Advent (Year C 2024)
5 Week Lectionary-based Advent + Christmas Series (Year C 2021)
Intergenerational Christmas resource (Mainly Ministries). Rags to Riches - An intergenerational all age service (SUNZ) Collected Resources A collection of Intergenerational Christmas Service ideas from the Uniting Church in Australia. Engage Together - Advent: Lectionary-based Children’s Talk + Multi-age activities for Sundays in Advent Art in AdventIf you want to mark Advent in a simple rich way, how about creating a space where your kids can spend some time with Advent art. Two of my favourites advent depicting artists are John Swanson, Julie Vivas, and He Qi.
Try these questions or make up your own: What do you see? What is different from the bible story? What is the same? What might this show us about God? About people? About our world? What do you think is important in this picture? Does anything in this picture have more than one meaning? I wonder what God might be saying to you through this picture today? Nativity - Hanna Varghese 
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God's Big Plan (Luke 1:39-55)
Today's story looks at how God encouraged Mary through the words of her cousin, Elizabeth
Leaders Input |
Gospel Conversations |
Visio Lectio
A print design from Rev. Sarah West, Diocese of Auckland PNG Download Download w/ background Terms of Use Visio Lectio is based on the practice of Visio Divina - the thoughtful contemplation of something visual that invites God to speak to us. |
This week Michael is joined by Jerry Morris, zooming in from Wisconsin; Mosgiel-based John Franklin, and (on her first appearance) Karen Hoffman from beautiful Kurow. Together, they unpack the story of Mary and Elizabeth, and what this passage has for us today.
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Christmas is closeThis week is exciting because Christmas is so close. Some children will know what they’re receiving as gifts, others will be planning holidays, others will have helped decorate the house or baked or already had Christmas parties. As a leader, it’s important to be mindful that there might be children for whom Christmas is a difficult time. There might be unusual family tensions through job loss, illness, having moved to a new city, lack of finances, etc. Your children might live in a separated family where they’re not quite sure which parent they’ll be with when. The first Christmas after a traumatic event can be particularly difficult. As a leader, it’s important to allow the excitement and joy of the season to bubble up, and still be aware and support others who might be struggling. Don’t be afraid to acknowledge that even though Christmas is a joyous, exciting, amazing time of year, that for some people, Christmas can be hard and that we need to support, love and pray for those who are struggling.
I wonder...
Christmas on the MoveAll resources from Christmas on the Move, a Strandz advent resource, can be found here
Today is the day for Mary and Joseph to arrive at the stable, ready for the arrival of the baby on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. This can be linked to the Gospel reading. 
A big surpriseA children's talk about Mary visiting Elizabeth
Say something like: What a surprise! First Mary is visited by an Angel - definitely not an everyday occurrence! And she’s told that she’s going to have a baby and that the baby is going to be God’s son. Phew! That would be a bit of a shock for anyone. God is full of surprises and in this story- the surprise doesn’t end there. After Mary is visited by an angel, she went to visit her older cousin, Elizabeth. Elizabeth had never had any children. Mary loved Elizabeth and wanted to see her and tell her what was happening - that she was pregnant with God's son. When Mary reaches Elizabeth' house, we find out another surprising something. Elizabeth was also pregnant. Not only that, but as soon as Elizabeth saw Mary, Elizabeth’s baby jumped around inside her. He started wiggling, kicking, moving around and getting really excited. Before Mary said anything at all, Elizabeth knew something amazing. She knew that Mary was pregnant and that Mary’s baby was going to be the Lord. I think that’s a story full of surprises. So full, that we know that God must have been up to something really, really big. This was no ordinary meeting, and God hadn’t planned a bit of ordinary stuff. Oh no! He had something big, no huge planned. God’s plan was to come and be with us in the world, to love us and save us. And for God to work it all out this way, he must really want to be with us. And he does. He wants to be with us just now, just the way we are. We don’t need to improve ourselves for him; get our hair cut, get good grades, lose weight or get a job. He wants to be with us right now. And to do that, God’s going to send a baby to earth. I always thought that if someone were going to change the world, that person should be strong and smart, and big and tough powerful and maybe a bit bossy. But God’s big surprising plan was very different. His big thing is a very little baby and that baby is coming very very soon! |
Craft boxes for homeAs Christmas draws close, and families adjust to being on holiday, tensions in the house may be running high. Children will pick up on parental stress, something that’s hard to avoid at this time of year. If you’re extra busy finishing at work and preparing for the holiday, and your children are demanding more time than you’re able to provide, try creating special craft boxes for your children.
Make one shoe box size box for each child - or one box for all of them to share and put a few special arts and crafts things inside. Include some special paper, felts, stickers, pipe cleaners, glue, buttons, paper or card- whatever you have or can easily get. Wool, popsicle sticks, tape, crayons, aluminum foil are also possibilities. When things get a bit rough, pull out the boxes and sit them down. Say something like, ‘You’ve got___ (an amount of time appropriate for their age) to create a Christmas card, or a poster or whatever you think might be of interest. By redirecting their need for your attention, they can work on something fulfilling and you might just get a few extra minutes to finish something that needs to be done. Christmas cardsMake Christmas cards that can be sent to homebound parishioners who will likely receive home communion in the Christmas season. Children, in particular, might like to make cards for members of their own families, or people they sit with or know at church.
You could include the greeting from today’s Epistle: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”. Print this in advance on address labels, or on paper that can be glued inside the card so that younger children who might struggle with writing can also include the greeting. Balloon memory verse gameThe Lord has blessed you because you believed that he will keep his promise. Luke 1:45
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