Friday, November 25, 2011

Advent chains

My friend Abigail Tardiff sent me this great Advent paper craft [PDF], which I constructed with the kids today, and hung from a folded-up projection screen.
Attached is an easy Advent activity, suitable for kids or grown-ups. Cut on the lines to make strips, and use a stapler to form the strips into paper chains, which represent the chains of sin and death. Then each day of Advent, starting this Sunday, remove one strip and read it. Except for December 19, which is from the Canticle of Zechariah, they are all Old Testament prophecies of the coming of the Messiah.
Each strip also has a Jesse Tree ornament (not related to the prophecy) on it that you may color and cut out, and hang on a branch. The Jesse Tree tells the history of Salvation, beginning with Creation and ending with Emmanuel, God With Us. During Advent, we tell our children these stories, because they tell why we need a Savior, and how God prepared the world for His coming.
The last seven ornaments are the "O Antiphons" taken from the evening prayers of those days. You can read about them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_antiphons. The hymn "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" is based on the O Antiphons.
Feel free to pass these around. I chose the prophecies, but I kiped uncopyrighted images from various places on the net.
Happy Advent from the Tardiff family.

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