An Illustrated Advent for Families: In Light and Darkness
Note: This is a digital product. No physical product will be shipped to you.
This is a digital product. At the time of purchase, you will download a PDF to print yourself. No products will be shipped.
Experience an all-ages encounter with the Advent season through a re-framing of the traditional understandings of light and darkness.
An Illustrated Advent for Families: In Light and Darkness is an opportunity for families to take time each week during the Advent season to be intentional and focus on their faith. These weekly reflections explore the theme of light and darkness in Advent scriptures. How we understand these ideas affect the way we view God, our faith, and our world. Inspired by Barbara Brown Taylor's book, Learning to Walk in the Dark, we re-frame traditional understandings of light as good and darkness as bad or evil.
Each week, there is a suggested scripture to read, a short reflection, discussion questions, an activity (with lots of coloring opportunities), and a prayer to explore the theme of light and darkness working in balance in our lives.
If you're wondering how to get this into the hands of the families in your community, check out this fabulous idea from our friends at the First Baptist Church of Greensboro, North Carolina:
What you will receive:
- Family Devotions: Five weeks of family devotions that explore the theme of light and darkness in Advent scriptures that includes a suggested scripture to read, a short reflection, discussion questions, an activity, and a prayer.
- Advent Calendar: Starting on December 1st, each day brings an opportunity to complete a simple activity as a family. With respect to the busy lives of our families, the activities are short and meaningful without distracting from the real purpose - family time. These activities will help your family explore how light and darkness exist in balance all around us during Advent.
- Illustrated Christmas Shadow Box Theater: Together, you will follow simple directions to build your Illustrated Christmas Shadow Box Theater and use it to act out the story of Christmas using light and shadows.
Additional details about the devotions:
- WEEK ONE: The Darkness did not Overcome – Read John 1:1-5
- WEEK TWO: Vision in the Night – Read Matthew 1:18b-24a, Luke 1:26b-38
- WEEK THREE: Overwhelming Light – Read Luke 2:2-14
- WEEK FOUR: Readjusting to the Dark – Read Luke 2:15-20
- Christmas Eve and Christmas Day – The Light Has Entered the World: Read Luke 2:1-7 on Christmas Eve and John 1:1-5 on Christmas Day
Ways to use:
Churches often purchase this and send it home with parents to use during Advent. One could also adapt it to use at church.
Purchase details:
After completing your purchase, you'll instantly receive a link to download a PDF to print yourself and distribute it to families.
Pricing
We aim to make the price of our products both accessible and fair, and so we ask that you select the appropriate option for your church size. While we don't have a way of verifying your church size, we trust that you'll make the correct selection. This ensures that we're able to continue to provide low-cost options for small churches with even more modest budgets.
More Advent Products
We have an ever-growing catalog of Advent products for both families and churches including large format posters. You can view all of our Advent products here.
And if you're looking for a quick craft for either your family or for a church program, check out these Advent activities: