This year for advent we are trying to strip away the glitter and look past the tree lights. Advent was traditionally a time of penitence and fasting, a sober time when we travelled through the long journey that lead upto Jesus’ birth. One of the reminders of that original meaning we have left is our Advent wreaths.
Advent wreaths are made of 5 candles placed in a ring, the central candle always stands for Jesus and is usually white, while the others are sometimes coloured. The four surrounding candles are said to represent either hope, peace, love and joy OR characters that prepared the way for Jesus – patriarch’s, prophets, John the Baptist and Mother Mary. Each Advent Sunday a new candle is lit as we journey towards the Christ child’s arrival.
This year for advent we are trying to strip away the glitter and look past the tree lights. Advent was traditionally a time of penitence and fasting, a sober time when we travelled through the long journey that lead up to Jesus’ birth. One of the reminders of that original meaning we have left is our Advent wreaths.
Advent wreaths are made of 5 candles placed in a ring, the central candle always stands for Jesus and is usually white, while the others are sometimes coloured. The four surrounding candles are said to represent either hope, peace, love and joy OR characters that prepared the way for Jesus – patriarch’s, prophets, John the Baptist and Mother Mary. Each Advent Sunday a new candle is lit as we journey towards the Christ child’s arrival.
This year for advent we are trying to strip away the glitter and look past the tree lights. Advent was traditionally a time of penitence and fasting, a sober time when we travelled through the long journey that lead up to Jesus’ birth. One of the reminders of that original meaning we have left is our Advent wreaths.
Advent wreaths are made of 5 candles placed in a ring, the central candle always stands for Jesus and is usually white, while the others are sometimes coloured. The four surrounding candles are said to represent either hope, peace, love and joy OR characters that prepared the way for Jesus – patriarchs, prophets, John the Baptist and Mother Mary. Each Advent Sunday a new candle is lit as we journey towards the Christ child’s arrival.
This invisible innkeeper is a beautiful character in a way because we have very little clue on who played this role. Whomever the relative was, distant or otherwise, we can safely cast male or female, old or young, to play the part. This craft is therefore very generic and can be used with any group familiar with the hero resources.
This invisible innkeeper lesson is all about understanding the context of Jesus’s birth and this craft really helps us see how the houses would have looked. This is a versatile craft that could be used for lots of lessons.
For reference : Generally there are three main designs. The bigger houses had rooms surrounding an open courtyard but the more common home was either like I’ve featured or the same design with the ‘guest room’ on ground level behind the main room.
A while back I made these lovely twisty arm people for the Abram and Lot lessons and Tabitha’s character seemed perfect to bring the idea back for. They are quite plain so as to let the little fashion designers creativity loose!
It’s tempting to just play with clothes for the lesson on Tabitha but this little flip craft also reveals the true value was found in Tabitha’s heart and not here wardrobe.
These simple cards can be used in so many ways with different age groups. They all use the image of Tabitha / Dorcas though all are coloured slightly differently to show off the wonderful clothes that Tabitha made.
