What Is Advent?

What is Advent?

The word Advent means coming. Advent is a season in the Christian liturgical year that is made up of the four Sundays and weeks leading up to Christmas.  It is a season for waiting. Some Christians and some churches celebrate Advent as a time to prepare heart, mind, and spirit for the coming of Jesus on Christmas Day.

What happens at school during Advent?

During Advent, our daily worship time begins with the lighting of candles on an Advent wreath and ends with adding an ornament to our Jesse Tree.

Our Advent wreath has 4 candles, one each for hope, peace, joy, and love.  We started this first week to light the “hope” candle and will add a new candle each week until we are lighting them all. In this way, we can see a symbol of Christ’s light coming into our midst.

You may have heard your child talk about the tree that we have in our classrooms to help us mark this special season of waiting for Jesus. The children were very excited to see the tree in the classrooms on Monday morning, but although it looks like a Christmas tree, it is NOT a Christmas tree. It is a Jesse Tree!

“The Jesse tree helps us connect the custom of decorating Christmas trees to the events leading to Jesus’ birth. The Jesse tree is named from Isaiah 11:1: “A shoot shall come out of the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” Jesse was the father of King David and Jesus was a descendant of King David. We adorn a Jesse tree with illustrated ornaments that represent the people, prophesies, and events leading up to the birth of Jesus. The ornaments of the Jesse tree tell the story of God in the Old Testament, connecting the Advent season with the faithfulness of God across four thousand years of history.”  (Loyola Press)

Each morning at worship during the season of Advent, we hear stories from the Bible that point toward the birth of Jesus. And each day at the end of worship, the children are invited to make an ornament that represents these stories and add it to our Jesse Tree. By the time Christmas is upon us, the tree will be full of ornaments representing the stories that helped us to arrive at the birth of Jesus.

If your family has an interest in practicing your own Advent wreath or Jesse Tree tradition at home, here are a few resources with guides that include readings, stories, ornaments and more:

• Faithward Family Jesse Tree
• Jesus Storybook Bible Advent Guide
• Loyola Press Family Advent Guide (week by week)
• Mason Jar Advent Calendar
• Family Advent Guide with Activities and Daily Readings
• Advent Wreath Prayers

How will the children celebrate Christmas? 

During Advent, the preschool children will become familiar with the Christmas story. They will help tell the Christmas story during worship on the last day of school before Christmas break. This year, we will still be telling the story of Jesus’ birth the morning of Friday, December 16. Please mark your calendar and plan to attend worship and a reception after (8:30-9:30am)

As always, we know it will be a truly joyful event. More information will come next week, including an opportunity to sign up to volunteer to help.